3rd Paris gunman identified

PARIS: The Paris prosecutor on Thursday named a Belgian-Moroccan man as one of the previously unidentified jihadis involved in the terror attacks in Paris and its suburbs in November.

The militant was identified as Chakib Akrouh by the prosecutor, who said he had been the third person who shot and killed patrons at Paris cafes and bars on Nov 13, the night in which 130 people were killed in three coordinated attacks.

Mr Akrouh, 25, blew himself up in a flat on Rue Corbillon in St-Denis during a police raid five days later, the office of Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

Akrouh had Belgium and Moroccan nationality. He was identified by matching his DNA with that of his mother, the prosecutor’s office said.

The identification of Akrouh reduces to two the number of unidentified figures involved in the attacks; both of them were among the three suicide bombers at the Stade de France in the north of Paris.

The one who has been identified is Bilal Hadfi. The other two were registered as having entered Europe through Greece carrying suspected forged Syrian documents.

Mr Molins has now identified all three gunmen at the cafes and bars.

The two who had previously been identified were Ibrahim Abdeslam, who blew himself up, and Abdelhamid Abaaoud, believed to have been the on-the-ground organiser of the attacks. He died in the Nov 18 raid.