November 2015 Paris attacks

An Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader with "direct" links to the alleged ringleader of the Paris attacks was killed in an air strike in Syria as he was plotting additional attacks, the Pentagon said Dec. 29.

The Belgian authorities have charged a ninth person in connection with last month's deadly Paris attacks, the prosecutor's office said Dec. 24.

A spokesman said the suspect had telephoned Hasna Aitboulachen, the cousin of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, several times after the Nov. 13 attacks and before a police raid five days later in which they both died.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said that the country's authorities have thwarted an attack targeting police and soldiers in the city of Orleans, france24.com reported on Tuesday.

Cazeneuve said that two French nationals had been arrested in connection with the suspected plot in the region of Orleans, southwest of Paris, on 19 December.

Marriage

ISIS militants are on a mission to marry European citizens so as to create Islamic cells in the heart of the continent from where they can attract new recruits for jihad. Daily News Egypt states that one of the ISIS recruiters has revealed that it is easy for militants to travel freely around Europe as they have EU passports in their possession.

A 29-year-old man was arrested in the Paris region on Dec. 15 as part of the vast investigation into last month's attacks on the city that left 130 dead, a judicial source said.

Police have raised the alert level in Geneva following information that four suspects for Paris attacks are in the region.

“The Geneva police, on the basis of this information, have increased their level of vigilance and reinforced the number of police agents on the ground.” said police to Reuters.

A 23-year-old man from the eastern French city of Strasbourg has been identified as the third gunman involved in the attack on Paris's Bataclan music hall, police sources said on Dec. 9.

Foued Mohamed Aggad had travelled to war-torn Syria with his brother and a group of friends at the end of 2013, according to a source close to the investigation.

The third suicide bomber has been identified responsible for  the deadly terror attack on Le Bataclan concert hall in Paris in which 89 people died.

French police has identified the third attacker of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, which was one of the sites targeted during the multiple attacks in the French capital on November 13.

The information was confirmed by French President Manuel Valls, the BBC informs.

Standing completely still, his eyes fixed on the flowers, flags and flickering candles at his feet, Barack Obama paid his own silent tribute to those who died in Paris's Bataclan concert venue.