Hunt for terrorists lasted eight hours: three dead, seven arrested

The operation carried out in the northern Parisian district of Saint Denis has ended, three people are dead, and seven have been arrested, said a spokesperson for the French government, confirming earlier statements by a police source, reports the Patria News Agency.  

Five days after the terrorist attacks in Paris in which 129 people were killed, a large-scale police anti-terrorist operation was launched before dawn on Wednesday in the suburb of Saint-Denis. Its target was the alleged organizer of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaud. According to media reports, the police concentrated on an apartment in the pedestrian zone of Saint-Denis, a Parisian suburb with a large immigrant community.

Three people were killed, including a woman who detonated explosives herself. Seven people were arrested, and at least five police officers were injured. According to television RTL and Le Monde, Abdelhamid Abaud is not among the arrested.

The operation began before dawn in this district, located less than a kilometer from the Stade de France, which was one of the targets of the attacks on November 13.

Since dawn, explosions and bursts of automatic gunfire have echoed in Saint-Denis. The army was deployed, and residents were asked not to leave their homes. Bus and subway lines were suspended.

Residents of the district said at dawn that they thought war had started when they heard detonations, helicopters and gunfire, and saw deployed soldiers, writes Index.