PARIS — Security fears intensified in Europe on Tuesday as German authorities scrambled to respond to a reported bomb plot and French investigators uncovered clues suggesting the Islamic State cell that launched last week’s devastating assaults in Paris was larger than previously known.
Starting at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, heavy gunfire broke out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. Police confirmed that there was a large SWAT operation underway in connection with the investigation into Friday’s attacks.
The site is less than 1.2 miles from the Stade de France, targeted by three suicide bombers on Friday.
Deputy Mayor Stephane Peu urged residents to stay home, saying “it is not a new attack but a police intervention.”
And, in the U.S. late Tuesday, two Air France flights for Paris were diverted after threats. A flight from Los Angeles landed without incident in Salt Lake City, and a flight from Washington was diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia. All passengers were safe.
Authorities in Hannover, Germany, abruptly called off a friendly soccer match Tuesday between Germany and the Netherlands that Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend to show resolve against terrorism and support for the victims of the Friday attacks that killed at least 129 people in Paris. One target of Friday’s attacks was a crowded soccer match at a stadium north of Paris.
Hannover Police Chief Volker Kluwe told local broadcaster NDR that officials received “a concrete tip that an explosives attack was planned against this international match in the stadium.”
A high-level European security official said the evacuation, which took place shortly before the match was to begin, was related to the Paris attacks.
Although no explosives were immediately located, the appearance of another suspected plot to wreak havoc at a crowded public event underscored the formidable challenge facing European nations as they seek to detect and prevent terrorist attacks.
The sudden appearance of another possible plot to wreak havoc at a crowded public event — the details of which were still emerging Tuesday evening — underscored the formidable challenge facing European nations as they seek to detect and prevent terrorist attacks.
The events in Germany took place as France unleashed a third night of intense airstrikes on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria. French Defense Minister Yves LeDrian told TF1 television that 10 French fighter jets were launching attacks on the city, The Associated Press reported. Raqqa is now the central target of the United States and allied countries seeking to dismantle the extremist group’s vast realm across Syria and Iraq.
A local activist group, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, reported a series of explosions or airstrikes in the Syrian city Tuesday night.
Hunt for suspects
At the same time, French authorities intensified their hunt for those responsible for Friday’s bloodshed, the worst on French soil since World War II. On Tuesday, investigators launched a search for an additional suspect, bringing the total number of alleged attackers to nine.
Surveillance video obtained by the AP also indicated that a team of three attackers carried out the shootings at one of the cafes.
The video was among evidence authorities used in concluding that at least one other attacker was at large, the French officials indicated.
The brief clip shows two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons calmly firing on the bar, then returning toward a waiting car, whose driver was maneuvering behind them. Authorities believe the car is the same black Spanish-made SEAT vehicle that was found Saturday with three Kalashnikovs inside.
Meanwhile, a U.S. official revealed that the suspected mastermind was part of an Islamic State cell that American intelligence agencies have been tracking for months.
Investigators have identified 27-year-old Abdel hamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief architect of the attacks. He is believed to be in Islamic State territory in Syria.
Analysts have been debating to what extent the Islamic State was devoting resources to external terrorist attacks versus seeking to hold on to the territory it has seized in Iraq and Syria. A consensus is emerging that the group is more focused on exporting terror than had been widely understood.
U.S. intelligence agencies have some insights into who is involved in that effort, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. But their understanding is hampered by the many challenges of gathering intelligence in Syria, where the CIA does not have a regular presence on the ground.
The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee said Tuesday that it was likely militants plotting the attacks in Syria, Belgium and France used encryption to hide their communications from authorities. Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said there was no direct evidence of encryption but that authorities had concluded it was used because they have uncovered no evidence of conversations among the plotters.
The statement acknowledges the challenges intelligence agencies face in monitoring records of international phone traffic.
Islamic State
Speaking to reporters after a classified intelligence briefing, Burr also said there is a “strong likelihood” the Paris attacks were directed, rather than just inspired, by the Islamic State in Syria.
The comments were the strongest public attribution yet by American officials. CIA Director John Brennan said Monday the attack bore “the hallmarks of terrorism carried out” by the Islamic State.
The U.S. Joint Special Operations Command has been carrying out targeted strikes for about a year against senior Islamic State militants in Syria, in cooperation with the CIA and other agencies.
Le Drian said France will have 36 warplanes in the region capable of carrying out airstrikes on Islamic State targets once the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier reaches the area.
NATO allies were sharing intelligence and working closely with France, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the missile cruiser Moskva, currently in the Mediterranean, to start cooperating with the French military on operations in Syria. His order came as Russian warplanes fired cruise missiles on militant positions in Syria’s Idlib and Aleppo provinces. Islamic State militants have positions in Aleppo, while Nusra, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda, is in Idlib.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with French President François Hollande and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Standing next to Hollande at the Élysée Palace on Tuesday, Kerry said the carnage in Paris, along with recent attacks in Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey, made it clear that more pressure must be brought to bear on Islamic State extremists.
A cease-fire between Syria’s government and the opposition could be just weeks away, Kerry said, describing it as potentially a “gigantic step” toward deeper international cooperation against the Islamic State.
France also reached out to its European Union partners for help, invoking a never-before-used treaty article obliging members of the 28-nation bloc to help a member state that is victim to armed aggression on its territory.
“Every country said, ‘I am going to assist; I am going to help,’ ” said Le Drian.
Underscoring the tensions in the French capital, the Eiffel Tower shut down again after opening for just a day Monday, and armed troops patrolled the courtyard of the Louvre.
Stadium threat
In Hannover, Kluwe said the alleged threat involved the “detonation of explosives in the stadium,” although no explosives had been found Tuesday evening. A second stadium in Hannover also was evacuated shortly before a rock concert was to begin.
French police have questioned dozens of people and conducted more than 100 raids since a state of emergency was declared Saturday. Paris police said they have arrested 16 people, but none were directly linked to the attacks.
Only five of the attackers have been identified, and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve conceded that the majority of the attackers “were unknown to our services.”
A manhunt is underway for an eighth suspect, Salah Abdeslam, whom French police accidentally permitted to cross into Belgium on Saturday. One of his brothers, Brahim, blew himself up in Paris.
