Draft:Abdelhamid Abaaoud
| Abdelhamid Abaaoud | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Abdelhamid Abaaoud |
| Other Names | Abu Omar Soussi |
| Personal Details | |
| Birth Place | Morocco |
| Brith Date | 1987 |
| Death Date | 2015 |
Abdelhamid Abaaoud (Arabic: عبد الحميد ابا عود; 8 April 1987 – 18 November 2015) was a Belgian-Moroccan Islamic militant who had spent time in Syria[1]. He is suspected of organizing multiple terrorist attacks in Belgium and France and is known for being the mastermind behind the November 2015 Paris attacks. Prior to the Paris attacks, an international arrest warrant had been issued for Abaaoud due to his activities in recruiting individuals for Islamic terrorism in Syria[2].
Military Activities
A Belgian national named Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who was previously linked to foiled operations against churches and trains, was responsible for designing the Paris terrorist attacks. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, known as Abu Omar Soussi, was residing in Syria. The French Minister of the Interior also announced that in 168 police operations in one night, 24 people were sent to detention centers and 104 people were placed under house arrest. He was the one who issued the order for terrorist attacks in Paris. Attacks that resulted in the death of 132 people and injury to more than 350 people. He went from France to Syria in 2013 and then returned to this country via Greece. The French police identified this individual as Samy Amour[3].
Death
Until 16 November 2015, French and Belgian security services were focused on Abdelhamid, because they believed he had led the Paris attacks[4].
On 18 November, French authorities carried out a raid which resulted in five police officers injured, three killed, and at least five arrests[5]. This raid took place in the suburb of Saint-Denis in northern Paris and targeted Abdelhamid[6]. It was later confirmed that he was one of the three killed in the raid.
The police knew that Hasna Ait Boulahcen, originally Moroccan, was a suspect in the investigations of a drug ring circle of one of the individuals affiliated with Abdelhamid. As a result, they tapped her phone. On 17 November, the police followed her to an apartment building in Saint-Denis and saw Abdelhamid enter the building with her. The subsequent attack began at 4:20 a.m. on 18 November and targeted this building.
The prosecution stated that based on some published reports, Abdelhamid's body was found in the apartment that was targeted in the raid, and identification was carried out using skin samples. However, other reports referred to identification by fingerprint samples taken from Abdelhamid's mutilated body[7], which was filled with bullets and shrapnel pieces from a grenade explosion. Abdelhamid's fingerprint was found on an AK-47 weapon found in an abandoned car.
According to French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve, Abdelhamid had a "decisive role" in the Paris attacks and was involved in four out of six terrorist attacks that were foiled since the spring of 2015. The French prosecutor also stated on 24 November that Abdelhamid intended to carry out another attack in La Défense, a large business district in the Paris region. The police recovered nearly 50 video clips and digital photos from his phone[8]. Among these photos, there were pictures of the Bull Ring shopping center in Birmingham and other city locations. Abdelhamid had traveled to England in August 2015. Despite being hunted by Belgian authorities, he arrived in Dover (England) by ship.