By Ahmed Abbas
Three jihadist cells staged coordinated attacks at bars, a concert hall and a football stadium killing 129 people and injuring 352, including 99 who were in critical condition, French Prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters.
“We have to find out where they came from… and how they were financed,” he said.
Ismael Omar Mostefai was the first person to be identified among the eight gunmen in the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday. He is a 29-year-old French citizen with Algerian origins.
The French prosecutor said Mostefai had a security file for Islamist radicalisation, adding that he had a criminal record but never spent time in jail. Six of his relatives are in custody, including his father and his brother, French media reported.
French authorities reportedly found a car in eastern Paris containing several Kalashnikovs, which are believed to have been used by the Paris attackers.
Molins told reporters that a multinational team with links to the Middle East, Belgium, and possibly Germany, as well as home-grown French roots were involved in the attacks claimed by the “Islamic State” militant organisation.
One Egyptian passport was found in Stade de France belonging to Egyptian victim Waleed Abdel Razik.
A Syrian passport was found near a body of one of the attackers. Greek officials said it had been used to travel through the Greek island of Leros last month.
Serbian officials said on Sunday that the document had been used five days later to enter Serbia from Macedonia, at the town of Miratovac near Presevo. French police have not verified whether the passport is linked to the attackers.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said his country will continue to fight IS in Syria and Iraq, describing them as an organised enemy. “We are at war. We have been hit by an act of war, organised methodically by a terrorist, jihadist army,” Valls said. “”Because we are at war we will take exceptional measures. We will act and we will hit them. We will hit this enemy to destroy them, obviously in France and Europe … but also in Syria and Iraq.”
Leaders of the world’s 20 most powerful countries have agreed to step up border controls and aviation security in the wake of the Paris attacks, according to a draft statement, Reuters reported.
They are expected to discuss the threat of “Islamic State” infiltration among refugees and asylum seekers to Europe.
“European Union countries should not give in to base reactions of rejecting refugees after the Paris attacks because the shooters were criminals, not asylum-seekers,” European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said Sunday.
Slovak and Polish officials who have previously refused the influx of refugees into Europe said Friday’s attack had underlined their security concerns.
“Hopefully, some people will open their eyes now,” said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
US President Barack Obama expressed solidarity with France and the French people. “As we I’m sure each said to French President Hollande and the French people, we stand in solidarity with them in hunting down the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice,” Obama said in a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, a suspected IS terrorist blew himself up in south-eastern Turkey on Sunday, killing four police officers.
