A day after the horrific events in Paris, intelligence and law enforcement officials are scrambling trying to find out who these reportedly ISIS-affiliated attackers were, where they have been and who supported and trained them. This is what we know about those involved so far.
- One of the biggest developments today is that ISIS is claiming responsibility for the attacks. At this point in time, no other competing terror groups are laying claim to what happened.
- According to French prosecutors quoted in the New York Times, three separate teams carried out the attacks across the city.
- One of the stadium attackers reportedly had a Syrian passport, prosecutors said. This passport was tracked through Greek island of Leros on October 3rd. This 25-year-old man may have been part of the vast Syrian migration into Europe, although there is no word if the passport has been authenticated.
- One of the terrorists involved in the Bataclan concert hall siege was French-born and lived in Courcouronnes, a town close to Paris. He was 29 years old and known to have connections to extremist elements, according to the NY Times.
- Three arrests have been made in Belgium with some relation to the attacks, possibly by matching a black rental car with Belgian plates seen during the theater attacks to one crossing the border into Belgium.
- At the wheel of the car, which was spot-checked by authorities at the border, was a French citizen living in Belgium and two passengers, Belgian authorities were quoted in USA Today.
- One of the individuals involved in the theater siege was said to have been watched at some time by intelligence groups and had a criminal record.
- The arrest of a 51-year-old man made last week at the Germany-Austria border, whose vehicle was full of guns and explosives and the car’s GPS set for Paris, is said to potentially be related to the coordinated attacks, a spokesman for Bavarian state police told the AP.
Update- 11/14/15 8PM PST:
- According to CNN a first attacker has been identified as Ismael Omar Mostefai, a 29 year old man who lived in Chartres France at least up until 2012. He was identified by his fingerprints
- Three separate raids related to the attacks have been carried out in the
Molenbeek-Saint-Jean suburb of Brussels. The raids are said to have been against homes of individuals known by Belgium’s intelligence apparatus. CNN also reports that some of the attackers were also previousy known by Belgium intelligence.
Update- 11/15/2015 11AM PST:
- USA Today reports that Salah Abdeslam, age 26, a brother of one of the terrorists from Friday’s attacks, is wanted by the law. He is said to be armed and dangerous.
- Abdeslam is said to be one of three brothers possibly involved in the attacks.
Although this new information on the attackers is intriguing, and it will surely result in many new leads, there is still so much we don’t know. This includes the names of these attackers, how they got their weapons, what kind of training they had, how long they had been planning this siege, and whether intelligence officials had any indication this was coming.
We will keep this page updated as more information becomes available.
Contact the author Tyler@Jalopnik.com
Photo via AP