First suicide bomber in Paris attacks identified

One of the suicide bombers who carried out the Paris attacks was identified Saturday by a French parliament member as Ismael Omar Mostefai.

Jean-Pierre Gorges, who is also the mayor of Chatres, wrote on Facebook that Mostefai lived in his town until at least 2012. According to Le Monde, Mostefai likely traveled to Syria in the winter of 2013-2014, where he joined the ranks of the Islamic State.

The body of the 29-year-old French national was found and identified at the Bataclan music hall where 89 people were shot dead Friday when three gunmen wearing suicide vests opened fire on spectators in the bloodiest of a string of attacks in Paris blamed on Islamists.

France’s worst ever attacks killed at least 129 people and left 352 injured, many in critical condition.

According to French media reports, Mostefai had a previous criminal record and had been flagged by French intelligence as a potential security risk since 2010.

A woman reacts as she looks at the flowers and messages left at a rail cordon close to the Bataclan theatre in the 11th district of Paris on November 14, 2015, the day after a series of attack on the city resulting in the deaths of more than 128 individuals.(AFP PHOTO / KENZO TRIBOUILLARD)

Le Monde reported that Mostefai had eight previous criminal offenses, but had not served jail time.

Police took into custody Saturday Mostefai’s father and brother and were searching their homes, a source close to the probe told AFP.

Investigators were also searching the homes of friends and relatives of the Frenchman, another source close to the enquiry said.

The father’s house is located in the small town of Romilly-sur-Seine, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Paris, while his brother’s is south of Paris in the Essonne region.

The brother, who is 34, contacted the police on his own initiative and was then taken into custody.

The attacker was known to police as being close to radical Islam but had never been linked to a terrorism enquiry, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said earlier Saturday.

He was identified via a severed fingertip.

Prosecutor Molins said seven gunmen were killed in the attacks, which were the work of three coordinated teams. Six of them blew themselves up while one was shot by police.