First Identified Paris Attacker Wasn't Implicated in Terrorist Activity

A flower hangs out of a bullet hole in a window on Rue Alibert in Paris, France, 14 November 2015. At least 129 people have been killed in a series of attacks in Paris, France on late 13 November 2015, according to French officials. Photo EPA/BGNES

The first attacker in Paris carnage identified by French authorities is 29-year-old Omar Ismail Mostefai who had been known to police but had never been imprisoned, AFP reported.

Mostefai was identified from a severed finger found at Bataclan concert hall where many people had been held hostages before security forces stormed the building, shooting dead one of the attackers, while two others blew themselves up with explosive belts.

Police files showed that Mostefai had eight convictions for petty crimes but had never been imprisoned.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told a news conference on Saturday Mostefai had came to the authorities' attention in 2010 as having been radicalised but had "never been implicated in a terrorist network or plot".

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for Friday night's attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people.

The Islamic militants have claimed two more deadly attacks over the past two weeks. - a twin suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon killed 43, and 224 died when a Russian aircraft crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

 

 

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