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Third Body Found in Wreckage of French Apartment
Officials said a third body was discovered amid the wreckage at an apartment that French police raided Wednesday.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office earlier announced the raid had killed two people. One was 28-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged leader of last week’s deadly Paris terrorist attacks.
Police also reported that a 26-year-old woman, Hasna Aitboulahcen, also died during the raid.
The newly discovered third body is believed to be a male, French media is reporting, Friday night. Police said they had not identified the body yet.
The raid took place in Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb. It lasted seven hours, and more than 5,000 rounds, or gunshots, were fired.
Initial news reports said Aitboulahcen detonated a suicide belt or vest she was wearing. But Friday, the French TV Station iTele said it was an unidentified man, not a woman, who blew himself up during the shootout with police.
Also on Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced that one more person had died from last Friday’s attacks in Paris.
That brings the death toll from the attacks to 130.
In addition, the European Union announced Friday it will tighten passport controls for its 22 members. Included in the tighter controls are the non-EU nations of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Europe’s passport-free zones were criticized after the Nov. 13 attacks. Some law enforcement officials said passport control needed to be tightened.
French officials believed that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a citizen of Belgium, was in Syria with fellow Islamic State militants on November 13. They said they were unaware Abaaoud had returned to Paris before Friday’s terrorist attacks.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
Lisa Bryant reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.
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Words in This Story
prosecutor – n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty
alleged – adj. accused of having done something wrong or illegal but not yet proven guilty
ignite – v. to set off an explosion
unidentified – adj. not known or identified