Suspect arrested in Paris attacks as raids continue across France

A 29-year-old man is arrested in the Paris region as part of a vast investigation into last month’s attacks on the city that left 130 dead, a judicial source says.

The probe has seen 2,700 police raids and 360 people placed under house arrest since the attacks by the Islamic State group, which triggered a nationwide state of emergency.

Two men are already in custody, accused of providing accommodation to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader who was killed in a major police raid in northern Paris five days after the attacks.

This undated image made available in the Islamic State’s English-language magazine Dabiq, shows Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was identified by French authorities as the presumed mastermind of the terror attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015. (Photo via AP)

Eight men have been arrested in Belgium, where the attacks are thought to have been organized, and one man has been detained in Turkey on suspicion of scouting the concert hall, bars and restaurants where the attacks took place.

Six counter-terrorism judges are overseeing the investigation — an unprecedented number for France.

But three of the nine attackers have yet to be identified, including two of the three suicide bombers who blew themselves up outside the Stade de France stadium, who appear to have used fake passports to sneak into Europe posing as refugees.

The other unidentified man is thought to have taken part in the gun attacks on the terraces of restaurants and bistros and died alongside Abaaoud in the shootout with police on November 18.

Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French citizen thought to have played a key logistical role, is still on the run and subject to an international arrest warrant.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a total of 334 people had been arrested since the attacks, of whom 287 were held for questioning, and that over 400 weapons had been seized.

— AFP