French officials have reportedly identified the suspected mastermind behind the 13/11 Paris terror attack and have said he was also involved in the recent thwarted attack on an Amsterdam-Paris Thalys train earlier this year.
The Paris attack mastermind is suspected to be a Belgian national named Abdelhamid Abaaoud, according to The Associated Press. He is said to be of Moroccan descent.
Belgian media reported that Abaaoud is 27 years old and a resident of the Molenbeek neighbourhood in Brussels in Belgium, which is said to have a high number of citizens who have left for Iraq and Syria to fight with Isis.
Abaaoud is believed to have joined the Islamic State two years ago and has also reportedly been seen in an Isis video. According to some reports, his 13-year-old brother, Younes Abaaoud, is one of the youngest Isis fighters.
So far, five of the eight attackers have been identified, and some of them are believed to have had travelled to Syria.
In August this year, a gunman armed with a Kalashnikov opened fire on a crowded train travelling from Amsterdam to Paris but was pinned down by some passengers, including two former US military men.
French officials have said Abaaoud was involved in the train attack, as well as a foiled attack on a church area in Paris.
