Authorities unaware IS jihadist was in France before Paris attacks

Much about Abdelhamid Abaaoud’s path to armed Islamic radicalism remains mysterious.

BREAKING: The suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid, the Paris prosecutor said.

Belgian jihadist reportedly dies as police storm flat north of capital

There were claims last night that the IS member who masterminded last Friday’s attack on Paris leaving 129 dead, was himself killed in a shootout at a suburb where a terrorist cell was planning a new attack on the city’s business district.

Once a happy-go-lucky student at one of Brussels’ most prestigious schools, Saint-Pierre d’Uccle, Abdelhamid Abaaoud morphed into the most notorious jihadi in Belgium, a zealot so devoted to the cause of holy war that he recruited his 13-year-old brother to join him in Syria.