A third person was killed in the anti-terror raid that targeted the Paris attack ringleader, officials confirmed Friday as the hunt continued for a suspected accomplice.
The unidentified body was found in a suburban apartment along with that of high-profile jihadi Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Hasna Aitboulahcen, a woman initially believed to be a suicide bomber who blew herself up as elite forces stormed in.
Later Friday, police told French media outlets iTele and Le Parisien that Aitboulahcen was actually killed by the explosion, and it was the third terrorist who set off the explosion. NBC News could not immediately confirm those reports.
The announcement of a third body came as the death toll in the attacks on a rock concert, Parisian cafes and the national stadium, rose to 130.
The interior ministry said police had conducted 793 raids since the atrocities. On Thursday night alone, police carried out 182 raids, detaining 17 people, and seizing 76 weapons plus drugs.
Aitboulahcen, 26, was the daughter of a Moroccan immigrant. She has described herself in the past as a cousin of Abaaoud but her actual relationship to him remains unclear.
Abaaoud’s younger brother was arrested in Morocco last month, a security source told Reuters on Friday.
Abaaoud, 28, a known Belgian terrorist who boasted earlier this year about his ability to evade Western intelligence agencies, is believed to have orchestrated the Paris attacks.
He was caught on surveillance video using the Paris subway system as the attacks were underway, it was reported Friday.
His death in Wednesday's violent raid in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was a victory for French elite police but his presence in Paris leaves embarrassing questions for governments and intelligence agencies who failed to track his movement across Europe from Syria.
Meanwhile, Belgian authorities continued to hold two of the nine people detained in raids there linked to Belgium-based Bilal Hadfi, who blew himself up near the Stade de France last Friday. Six were released after questioning, the seventh is being provisionally held for a further 24 hours.
French national Salah Abdeslam, whose brother Brahim blew himself up in the French capital, remains at large and is the subject of an international arrest warrant.
There were reports that he had been caught on surveillance video wearing a disguise but this report could not be verified by NBC News.
