Paris terror mastermind 'not arrested in raid'

Updated

A Belgian jihadist named as the ringleader of the Paris massacres was not among those arrested during a police operation in the north of the city, officials said.

Eight people were arrested after police swat teams carried out a seven-hour siege at a flat in Saint-Denis, but they did not include Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind, and Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspected gunmen who is now the focus of an international manhunt.

Two people died during the police operation, one of whom was a woman who blew herself up.

But Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said officials have not yet been able to identify the bodies due to their condition.

Advertisement