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CNN is reporting the following:
Paris attacks: ISIS claims responsibility in 129 deaths; Belgium makes arrests By Michael Martinez, Mariano Castillo, Faith Karimi and Margot Haddad, CNN Paris (CNN)With ISIS claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks, the investigation moved beyond France as Belgian authorities made a number of arrests there in the first publicized apprehensions following Friday night's bloodshed, a Belgian justice ministry spokeswoman told CNN on Saturday. Meanwhile, at least one American is among the Paris death toll, now at 129 people, officials said. The U.S. victim was Nohemi Gonzalez, 20, of El Monte, California, a junior studying design in Paris for a semester while enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, the school said. In Belgium, raids were conducted in the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, justice ministry spokeswoman Sieghild Lacoere said. A car rented in Brussels was found near one of the sites of the Paris attacks, and "that's what triggered the raids," Lacoere told CNN. In all, the raids took place in three homes in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a Western intelligence source told CNN. At least one of the raids is connected to the Paris attacks, according to the source, who is in contact with French and Belgian intelligence services. The other raids are connected to individuals known to Belgium intelligence, the source said. Some of the Paris attackers are also known to Belgium intelligence, the source added. At least two Belgians were among the dead in France, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said. One of the terrorists in Paris was identified as a 30-year-old French national from Courcouronnes, in the city's southern suburbs, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Saturday. That individual was involved in the attack on a concert hall, had a criminal history, and was identified as having been radicalized in 2010, but that person had never been accused of terrorism, Molins said. The Paris attacks are the worst violence witnessed by France since World War II and were deemed by the French President "an act of war." In the nearly simultaneous attacks on Friday night, the assailants targeted six sites, the deadliest being a massacre at a concert hall where at least 80 people were killed. In addition to the 129 people killed in Paris, 352 were injured -- at least 99 seriously, Molins said Saturday. The threat of ISIS is well-known, with the jihadist group's atrocities in Syria and Iraq being met with condemnation and airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition that includes France. But the scale and apparent coordination of Friday's attacks inside the European Union, which comes on the heels of ISIS' claim of taking down a Russian airliner in Egypt, represent an escalation of capabilities if confirmed. In an online statement distributed by supporters Saturday, ISIS said eight militants wearing explosive belts and armed with machine guns attacked precisely selected areas in the French capital. A Syrian passport was found near the body of an attacker outside one of the targeted sites, the Stade de France, according to a police source, CNN affiliate France 2 and other French media reported. A source close to the investigation told CNN that an Egyptian passport was found on another attacker. "There is strong assumption that these passports are fake," the source said. |
