Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 11-20-15 Edition

White House News
Possible ISIS Attacks In U.S. Has Country On Alert
President Barack Obama's national security team is sending a message that might lend at least a glimmer of reassurance to Americans traumatized by the terror at- tacks in Paris.
Saying that while the ISIS ambition is certainly there to launch similar attacks on U.S. shores, the capability is not great.
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told re- porters that one big difference between the situation in Eu- rope and that in the U.S. is that "thousands" of fighters have traveled to Syria and then re- turned to Europe. That num- ber being tracked in America is far smaller-- around 40, ac- cording to the Director of Na- tional Intelligence James Clapper earlier this year.
Clapper added that not all of those ISIS joiners were nec- essarily fighting -- some might have served other roles for the terrorist group, such as first aid -- and he knew of no ter- rorist plots that any of those returning have been involved in once back in the U.S.
Rhodes said that ISIS has found more utility in trying to recruit or motivate sympathiz- ers in America online, from abroad.
A top FBI counterterrorism official told Congress this year that "hundreds, maybe thou- sands" of people in the U.S. follow ISIS online. And this year alone, at least 49 alleged ISIS "supporters" in America have been charged with re- lated crimes. The largest num- ber of those were in New York.
Officials: Suspected Mastermind Of Paris Terror Attacks, Cousin Died In Raid
PARIS – The Belgian jihadi suspected of masterminding deadly attacks in Paris died along with his cousin in a po- lice raid on a suburban apart- ment building, officials said Thursday.
Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins’ office said 27-year- old Abdelhamid Abaaoud was identified based on skin samples, but authorities did not know how he died. His body was found in the apart- ment building targeted in the chaotic and bloody raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Wednesday.
Three police officials say a woman who died in the raid was Abaaoud’s cousin. One said Hasna Aitboulahcen is believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief con- versation with police officers. The official confirmed an
ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD
audio recording, punctuated by gunshots, in which an offi- cer asks: “Where is your boyfriend?” and she re- sponded angrily: “He’s not my boyfriend!” Then loud bangs are heard.
The exact relationship be- tween Abaaoud and Ait- boulahcen was not clear.
The bodies recovered in the
raid were badly mangled, with a part of Aitboulahcen’s spine landing on a police car, complicating formal identifi- cation, according to one of the officials.
The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity be- cause they were not permitted to divulge details of the inves- tigation.
Paris Terrorists Last Stand
The six-hour stand-off be- tween French police and the Paris terror cell ended as a bloodied and half-naked sus- pect (main picture and top right) was dragged out of an apartment block through bro- ken glass in Saint-Denis - close to the Stade de France.
The gunfight started at 4.30 a.m. when SWAT teams and special forces surrounded the building believing the archi- tect of the massacres that killed 129 people, Abdel- hamid Abaaoud, 27, was in- side.
It is not known if he is dead or alive. A woman 'with long blonde hair' who may be Abaaoud's jihadi bride is said to have fired her AK-47 at police before blowing herself up as an assault squad first
stormed the apartment block. As she tried to kill police a rooftop sniper shot dead an- other terror suspect through a window. Police said that five people in the apartment were taken alive and arrested while two others were held 'nearby'. At least five police were in- jured in the ferocious gunfight including one shot in the foot seen being carried from the scene.
The terrorists also gunned down a seven-year-old sniffer dog called Diesel, sent into the block to look for booby traps. Witnesses say there were long periods of intense machine gun fire and at least seven large explosions, caused by the suicide bombers and possibly hand grenades. There were no hostages involved.
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