French police have identified the first attacker involved in a series of assaults across Paris, which left at least 129 people dead and wounded hundreds more.
Omar Ismail Mostefai was a 29-year-old Paris native whose detached finger was found overnight at the Bataclan concert hall, the scene of the bloodiest attack, the AFP news agency said.
The French citizen had been known to police for his alleged links to armed groups but had not been previously linked to violent activities.
French authorities believe the attacks were planned abroad by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, but have not yet confirmed the identities of others involved.
ISIL purportedly claimed reponsibility for the attacks shortly after the incident but has also not revealed the identities of the attackers.
Investigators in France, Belgium, Greece and Germany are trying to identify the seven attackers and their accomplices.
In Belgium, police arrested several people over their alleged links to the attacks. Koen Geens, Belgian justice minister, said those arrested were detained in connection with a grey Volkswagen Polo that was rented in Belgium but found near the scene of the attack.
Witnesses said some of the attackers arrived in a car carrying Belgian plates
Greek authorities have also confirmed that a man who died in the attacks with a Syrian passport found next to him had registered as a refugee on the island of Leros in October.
Police said the passport had been found near the body of one of the attackers.
German police arrested a man on November 5 after machine-guns, hand guns and explosives were found in his vehicle during a routine check on a motorway.
Horst Seehofer, Bavaria’s state premier, said there was reason to believe he had links to the attackers, and that the case “shows how important it is for us to have some clarity on who is in our country”.
The attacks have intensified debate on Europe’s response to the refugee crisis. Marie Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front party, has called for a tightening of the country’s borders.(Al Jazeera)
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/french-police-identify-attacker-paris-killings-151115032957285.html
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