18/11/2015 BBC News at One

it. A group he says wants to destroy the very heart of what France means

not only to its people but what it represents around the world. You are

watching BBC News. Explosions and gunfire before dawn as armed police

raid flat in northern Paris. Two people in the flat died in

the dawn raid - one was a female Seven people have been arrested.

Police had been hunting Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the man thought to be the

mastermind behind Friday's attacks. TRANSLATION: It is the entire

country that has been attacked, because of the values it holds, the

combat it is pursuing to eradicate terrorism, and for the simple reason

for what we are. The area was swarmed by riot police

and the military, seven hours later the tally was too dead and seven

arrested. Ben Brown has more in Paris -- two dead.

Good afternoon from Saint Denis, in the road behind me, French police

and troops began a massive security operation, a raid on a flat where

they believed a terror cell was. There was explosions and gunfire for

several hours and at the end of it, one female suicide bomber blew

herself up, another gunman inside the flat is thought to have been

killed, perhaps by a police sniper, and seven people have been arrested.

We can show you where we are, we are in the north of Paris, in the Saint

Denis, less than a mile away from the Stade de France, where some of

the attacks took place on Friday. The man they were hunting, the

mastermind behind Friday's attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, he is the man

they thought could be in this flat, but his whereabouts are still

unknown. In a moment, the latest on the implications of this raid, and

France's fight against Islamic State, but now a report on today's

dramatic events. Woken by a noise outside,

this resident of Saint-Denis opens a window and

starts filming on a mobile phone. Heavy gunfire resounds through

the streets. It was a pitched battle

between police and terror suspects. Through their windows residents

watched the operation unfold. This man was among them, he was woken by

what he called a deafening blast. I jumped out of bed, he said, opened

the window and put my head outside. The police said, no, shut

the window, close it, close it. The police operation focused

on an apartment containing at least five people thought to be involved

in Friday night's massacre. The authorities say a woman

in a suicide vest blew herself up This woman was in the flat

below during the raid. There were so many explosions,

it was as if the ceiling of I got out of the bathroom,

I tried to protect myself, Two more suspects were taken

into custody from inside the flat. And there were other arrests

outside the building. Someone asked me to put two people

up for three days and I did them I don't know where they came from,

I don't know anything. If I'd known,

do you think I would have done it? Police believe one of those

in the apartment was this man, President Hollande said that France

have planned Friday's attacks, and President Hollande said that France

was at war with the so-called Islamic State were and he praised

the security forces. TRANSLATION: I would like to express our gratitude

and admiration for those that took part in the operation, they knew the

danger, but they fought until the end of their mission. Outside the

apartment, there is still a heavy police presence, and roads around

the area remained sealed off and security forces are still on high

alert. For people in Paris, there appears to be some good news, after

so much pain. President Hollande has said what has

happened confirms his view that France is at war with terrorism and

with the so-called Islamic State. You were here when the explosions

were ringing out? The first wave began at 320 in the morning, and

then a second round was heard, we think they might have been stun

grenades going into the building. At that moment the police when a very

tense mood, keeping everyone as far back as they possibly could. As soon

as the second volley had gone on the as the second volley had gone on the

mood completely changed, and it was very clear very quickly that this

operation was almost over. But the real issue that the authorities have

to face, this was a woman who died and blew herself up with a suicide

vest. She had a suicide vest for a reason, and the authorities will

want to find out what the target was, and if there was one suicide

vest, are there any more? Thank you very much. Our reporter, who was on

the scene very early, as the raid and folded.

We gather they had phone taps, surveillance and witnesses, who had

pointed to the fact that there was a terrorist cell in the flat, perhaps

including the mastermind of Friday's attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. And now

this assessment from our security correspondent.

Five days on, the investigation continues, French and Belgian

authorities have gathered enough DNA, think of Prince and other clues

to identify most of the attackers. -- fingerprints. The Paris attackers

attacked in three groups, at the Stade de France, two attackers have

been identified, one man pretending to be a Syrian refugee. And a

20-year-old French national, living in Belgium, he had spent some time

reportedly fighting for Islamic State in Syria. Only months ago he

was still at school and his teacher remembers his extreme views.

TRANSLATION: Are to be Charlie Hebdo attacks there was a noisy class and

he was speaking all the time and defending the attack -- afterbirth.

He said it was the right thing to do when religion was insulted and I was

very surprised and reported this to the headteacher. At the Bataclan

Theatre where the worst of the killing took place, Omar Ismail

Mostefai died at the scene, he was a 29-year-old French national with a

conviction for petty crime. He lived outside Paris and attended the local

mosque. He is all so thought to have travelled to Syria recently. And

then there is a 28-year-old Frenchman from a Paris suburb,

already known to French intelligence, he blew himself up

inside the theatre. And this is where he lived, neighbours said

everyone here knew him and it was hard to believe he had become a

suicide bomber. In the restaurant and bar attacks, police have

identified: He was a Frenchman living in Belgium, where oddly owned

a bar. A neighbour remembers a reasoning cancer. TRANSLATION: He

came to us in this neighbourhood to hide Kalashnikovs, but as we knew he

was crazy we said to each other, it is not true. He said, it's serious.

-- remember a reasoning cancer. -- recent encounter. Abdelhamid

Abaaoud, seen here in a recent Islamic State propaganda video, his

sister is believed to have sent -- blow herself up in Paris this

morning. The dramatic events every focus

attention on so-called Islamic State and the threat that it poses. --

have refocused attention. The head of intelligence in Iraqi

Kurdistan has told the BBC that IS could be defeated within months if

world powers became fully engaged. Our Middle East Correspondent Jim

Muir reports. This was the moment when weeks of IS

planning reach their climax - was this a planned provocation to lure

the West into confrontation in the Middle East? The militants have

suffered setbacks on the ground, just last Friday Kurdish forces in

northern Iraq drove them out of a strategic town Bay had held for 15

months, but even the triumphant Kurds have no illusion that this was

a death blow. It is very difficult to say that Isis has weakened, they

might be losing some ground here and there, but to them, to terrorise,

they are using different methods and they might try to do more of this if

they are not stopped and if they are not kept under pressure. Last night

French jets carried out their third series of bombing raids since Sunday

and Isis's declared capital of Raqqa, and France declared more than

30 militants have been killed, but military experts have said air

strikes alone cannot win the war. Isis can be defeated, no doubt, and

we can learn to contain them. What we can't do is allow them to go on

dictating the pace, seizing the initiative. Kurdish leaders make it

clear they will not fight outside the areas they regard as their own,

the Western television does not yet have capable, cohesive allies on the

ground in the rest of Iraq and Syria -- the Western powers. To destroy

IS, they would have to go in themselves, and that would not be

the end of the stories. Muslim community leaders need to be at the

forefront of this war in particular, enlightened Muslim teachers need to

do more to reach out to communities and immunise them from the spread of

Isil ideology. Multiple dilemmas facing the West, to defeat IIS

militarily there might be no choice but to go in on the ground -- Isis

militarily. Strategies that could be fraught with risks.

The street has now been reopened, and we are hearing from the French

authorities in the last few minutes that they have managed to identify

all of the 129 people who were killed in Friday night's terror

attacks in Paris. And now back to London. The French president has

also said again that" we are at war", and he reminded people that

the jihadis of Isil have an army, financial resources, oil and

territory and they have accomplices in Europe. We are keeping across

this story in Paris, and we heard just now from my colleague at the

scene in Saint Denis. Tim Wilcox is in central Paris and he has the

latest developers. -- developments. I'm 12 kilometres away to the south

of Saint Denis. We can bring you the latest information. Very dramatic

events before dawn in Saint Denis, a police raid taking place in that

suburb, densely populated area, north of where I am now. The

operation targeting the suspected mastermind of Friday night's deadly

attacks, 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud. The operation began at 425

in the morning local time. Gunfire and explosions were heard in that

area, very close to the basilica, in a shopping district of Saint Denis.

French police say two suspects are dead, one of them a woman,

detonating a suicide vest as she reportedly charged police officers

outside her apartment. The other, a male, either shot dead by a sniper

or killed with a grenade. Or gunfire within the apartment. Seven people

have been arrested and several police officers have been injured in

the operation. We know that seven people have been arrested, but it is

not yet clear who they are. We can bring you some video which was taken

by a TV crew just underneath the roof of the white tent that you

should be able to see. You can see a naked man in handcuffs being led

away by armed police. We can bring you a still photograph of a man who

appears to be naked from the waist down, a bloody bandage on his hip.

He had been treated by security officials who stormed the flat, his

hands are being held behind his back by police officers, and the reason

for the man not wearing clothes is unclear, but one would issue him it

might be they were taken by surprise or they have been stripped for fear

they were wearing explosive devices -- one would assume it might be. We

have an image of another man being arrested and he is fully clothed and

appears to be uninjured. He's handcuffed. His identity is unknown.

Those dramatic events taking place before dawn in the suburb of Saint

Denis. A little later on we heard from the Ministry of the Interior

and indeed the Paris prosecutor, but after that President Hollande

addressed the National Assembly of Mayors including the mayor of Paris

and his message was defiant and clear, this is what he had to say.

TRANSLATION: These actions confirm to us once again that we are at

war, a war against terrorism which itself has decided to launch war

against us. The jihadists organisation of Isil, it has an

army, financial sources, oil, it occupies a territory, it has

accomplices in Europe and in our own country. In a radical Islamists,

Isil has committed massacres there and it would like to commit murders

here and it has done so. During the night of the 13th of November. At

least 129 people were killed, lost their lives. Our thoughts are with

them, with the men and women who work outwardly assassinated and

injured, we are thinking about their families who have been thrown into

paying -- who were cow these attacks have hit Paris and

Saint Denis, but these attacks concern all the French, where ever

they live in French territory, because it is the entire country

that has been attacked. For the simple reason, what it represents,

the value it holds, the combat it is pursuing to eradicate terrorism and

for the simple reason for what we are. The terrorists aim was to

target the idea of France itself. What has happened throughout

generations, the liberty that France has, universal rights that it

defends, this is what has been attacked. During the night of the

13th of November. Because these barbaric people in their blind

violence have targeted the diversity of the French people irrespective of

the origin, colour, religion, it is the youth of France which was the

target, because that represents the diversity and generosity and the

liberty, simply speaking, life. President Hollande, addressing the

National Assembly of Mayors. That came after a statement from the

French prosecutor, who was addressing supporters width

reporters in -- he was addressing reporters in Saint Denis and he said

what had gone on in the raid. TRANSLATION: I would like to make

some remarks, I will give you more details at a press conference early

this afternoon, and nobody has been able to enter the apartment until

scientific tests have been carried out. This operation was with within

the terrorist inquiry given on Friday, and during this inquiry an

investigation, a great deal of work has been done, which has allowed us

to obtain through telephone surveillance and eyewitnesses,

elements that gave us belief that the so-called Abdelhamid Abaaoud was

actually in this apartment in Saint Denis. The operation was carried out

last night that has resulted in the shooting described by the Minister.

First of all, we have arrested three people inside the building, and also

a young woman blew herself up. By blowing up her belt. And also the

death of another terrorist whose body was found during the operation.

He was hit by a grenade and bullets. Two other people have been arrested

while they were trying to hide in the trouble. It is the 1 who

provided the lodging to the terrorist. It is very impossible at

the moment to give you the identity of the culprits. We have to wait

until we have determined who is who, and following scientific and

police enquiry, how they happened to be in that apartment, and also the

Department of investigation. That is the French prosecutor, we

can now have a look at the significance of the location of

these early morning raids in Paris. It is a couple of kilometres away

from the Stade de France, the area which was targeted by the militants

on Friday night. Who killed dozens of people in bars and restaurants,

further away in the centre of Paris. The area of Saint Denis has a high

proportion of people from ethnic minorities. Heavily armed police

were deployed here, to one of the main shopping districts in Saint

Denis, the actual apartment was on a side street, nearby. Throughout the

morning we have been talking to people who witnessed those attacks,

some of them living very close by, including this man. There is some

stuff going on outside, if you wait, I can show you outside a little bit.

SIRENS. I don't know exactly what is going on. We had some gunshots from

the other streets. The operation is still going on, actually. We have no

idea what is going on, people have been told to stay at home, no one

can lead, and there is no way to get out of the neighbour -- no one can

leave. That is the situation right now.

We have more sirens here at Place de la Republique, plenty of activity,

several vans driving past. Another eyewitness to the events at 425

local time now. I can see over 20, 30 vehicles from

the Army and the police, as well as what feels like a hundred police or

army officers, and what I can see, when it was calming down a little

bit, I was looking out and I could see some people in black, running

round and I suspect they were police and army, rather than the suspects.

To be honest my heart is still pounding and I cannot leave the

building. If someone does a suicide bombing, I will be dead, basically.

I feel as though my life is at risk, but there is nothing I can do,

so I may as well stay here and talk with many news agencies.

Truly terrifying moments again for the people of Paris, and one can

only imagine the families living there, listening to those sounds

before dawn when the operation was carried out. Short while ago I spoke

to our correspondent Hugh Schofield who has been following all of the

developments and he gave us the very latest about what was being said in

more detail about the operation at 425 this morning. The police went to

this place at about 420 this morning, they had been following a

woman who might be a relation, a cousin of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, they

had been following her and she led them to this apartment, and they

knew there might be terrorist associates of those who carried out

the Friday attacks, and possibly Abdelhamid Abaaoud himself. We need

to be quite clear, they were hoping to get him there, but we don't think

they knew he was there. There is a mystery over whether he was actually

at this apartment. In any case, they move after an exchange of fire,

which was pretty voracious, they arrested three people who are

brought out -- ferocious. A police dog goes in, and it is shot, and

then there is a confrontation at six o'clock, as the police get closer,

and the woman charges at them and blows herself up, something that has

never happened to French police before, this is a marquee point for

them, to be charged at by anyone, but a woman suicide bomber. She

kills only herself. The siege continues, there is another round of

explosions at around 730, and then it is over, apart from the fact they

later discover two other people hiding in the rubble. Five people

arrested in the building, two arrested outside of the building,

including the owner of the apartment and his wife, and the dead are this

woman who blew herself up and a body discovered to have been hit by maybe

sniper bullets or other projectiles. The big question, who are those

arrested and who are the dead? Is Abdelhamid Abaaoud one of the dead?

Reports also that intelligence agencies thought another attack was

being planned? There's no way of knowing that is true, has been

confirmed. It has been doing the rumour mill, though. There has been

nothing from reliable security sources quoted by reliable news

agencies to suggest that. It is something which is going round. The

least we can say, it is shocking and scary, and just four days after the

Friday attacks, there was a woman with a suicide belt ready to act and

other people in this apartment with a stockpile of weapons, and whether

or not they were preparing to carry out another attack immediately, I

don't know. Probably they were keeping a low profile given the

amount of awareness there is among the public, anything suspicious

would be immediately reported, and so they be keeping a low profile,

but we can assume they were intending to plan other things and

to go out with a bang, when the police moved in. That is our Paris

correspondent. Telling us what we now know about that to Matic

early-morning raid, 12 kilometres from where I'm standing, in the

suburb of pace two -- about that dramatic early-morning raid. Two

people killed, one woman blowing herself up with a suicide vest, the

other killed by a sniper, we think. You're watching