Iraqi jihadist among Paris bombers: French intelligence

An Iraqi jihadist was one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up outside the Stade de France during the November 2015 attacks on Paris, a French intelligence source said on Wednesday.

Blue, white and red candles in the colours of the French flag burn at the Place de la Republique in Paris on 13 November, 2016, after ceremonies held for the victims of the 13 November, 2015 Paris attacks. Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

Until now, only one of the three bombers who detonated their explosives outside the stadium during a France-Germany friendly had been identified: a 20-year-old Frenchman living in Belgium.

France's DGSE intelligence agency now believes that one of that man's accomplices, who was carrying a fake Syrian passport, was from the Iraqi city of Mosul. He and the third attacker, whose identity is still unknown, are believed to have slipped into Europe with a group of refugees who landed on the Greek island of Leros on 3 October, 2015.

One person was killed in the Stade de France attack which marked the start of a series of coordinated strikes around Paris on the evening of 13 November, 2015. The attacks were later claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) armed group.

In all, 130 people were killed during the attacks that night, including 90 people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan theatre.

- with AFP