Following the aftermath of the Paris attacks last week, in which 129 were killed, the suspected ringleader of the deadly attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is the target of a massive police raid in a northern Paris suburb that has resulted in the deaths of three suspects. Cell phones found by the police led to two raids around 5:48 a.m. Wednesday morning in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, home of the Stade de France national stadium and the site of one of Friday’s attacks. The first raid is at an apartment and the other at a church. Police say the raids, in which two terrorists were killed along with a police dog, averted a terrorist operation.
The police told sources at CNN that the apartment raid was “right on time.” The suspects were “about to move on some kind of operation.” Two suspected terrorists were killed in the apartment raid, five police officers were injured, and a police dog was killed. One of the suspected terrorists blew herself up with a suicide vest. Seven arrests were made. A senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN the apparent ringleader of the attack, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is the main target but said authorities weren’t certain that Abaaoud was at the location. CNN’s Atika Shubert reported five or six explosions at the scene.