Paris attacks: Third body recovered in raided apartment

Paris, Nov 20: A third body has been recovered from the apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis raided by police over the terrorist attacks in the French capital on November 13, prosecutors said on Friday.

Two bodies were earlier found after the raids on Wednesday. The first belonged to Belgian-national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, who is suspected to be the ringleader of the attacks over six locations that left 129 people killed and 350 others injured, BBC reported.

Abaaoud's death has been confirmed, but the French prosecutor's office said on Friday that it had not yet been able to formally identify the other two female bodies found in the Rue Cormillon apartment.

The third body was found in an overnight search.

According to the office, the second body may be of Hasna Aitboulahcen, who is widely reported to have been Abaaoud's cousin, and died after detonating a suicide vest soon after the seven-hour long raid began.

A passport bearing the name Hasna Aitboulahcen was found in a handbag at the scene.

Meanwhile, demonstrations have been banned under France's continued state of emergency, but dozens of French artists and cultural figures have urged people to make a lot of "noise and light" by turning on music and lights at 9.20 p.m. (local time) to mark the exact time a week ago that the attacks began.

IANS