Paris
attacker slipped into Europe with refugees
Two
of eight assailants identified. ISIL group split into three
coordinated teams, says Paris prosecutor.
By NICHOLAS VINOCUR
11/14/15, 9:02 PM CET Updated 11/15/15, 9:11 AM CET
PARIS — At least
one of the assailants in France’s worst-ever terrorist attack was a
Syrian who entered Europe through Greece with a group of migrants,
French and Greek authorities said Saturday, deepening fears that
other terrorists have infiltrated the European Union this way.
Paris prosecutor
François Molins said that the group of eight assailants had split
into three teams to carry out a series of closely coordinated suicide
bombings and gun attacks on Friday night. The assault, which lasted
about 30 minutes, left 129 dead and nearly 100 injured in serious
condition.
The carefully
organized nature of the attack broke a recent pattern of relatively
unambitious, “lone-wolf” operations and led investigators to
believe that the group had been backed up by accomplices in France
and Belgium, some of whom may yet have to be apprehended.
Several witnesses at
Paris’ Bataclan concert hall, where the worst killing took place,
described the attackers there as young men of Middle Eastern
appearance who communicated in French and handled their weapons
confidently.
Of the eight
attackers, Molins said only two had been formally identified as of
Saturday evening: one Frenchman who was known to security services;
and the Syrian, whose passport was found near the scene of a suicide
bombing near an entrance to the Stade de France stadium.
The Frenchman was
later identified as Omar Ismail Mostefai, a 29-year-old Paris native
of Algerian origin whose severed finger was found at the Bataclan.
Mostefai was said to
have a series of convictions for petty crimes, but had not been to
jail.
“I cannot be more
precise for now,” Molins said during a press conference in Paris,
adding that he did not want to divulge further information that could
disrupt ongoing raids to arrest suspects in Belgium. Police in
Brussels raided the northern neighborhood of Molenbeek, which has a
large Muslim population, arresting three people.
Police in Paris
found a rental car with Belgian plates that was allegedly used by the
attackers parked near the Bataclan.
While most details
of the terrorists’ identities and motivations remained unknown, an
emerging picture underscored one of European authorities’ worst
fears — that militants affiliated to the ISIL terrorist group could
have slipped into the vast crowds flooding into Europe to flee war
and hardship in Syria.
A Greek minister
said that the Syrian, aged 25, had arrived early last month on the
island of Leros in a group of nearly 70 refugees. All had been
checked, fingerprinted and registered in a new European statement.
Security officials were investigating the whereabouts of 10 other
people who had arrived in Greece, according to Mega TV.
In several attacks
over the past 18 months, including a shooting at a Jewish museum in
Brussels, suspects have been linked to ISIL, either having fought
with the group in Iraq and Syria or claiming allegiance to them and
receiving instructions from afar.
Helen Popper in
Athens contributed reporting to this article.
Authors:
Nicholas Vinocur
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