Two people have reportedly been killed and five arrested after French police swooped on an apartment in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb in Paris, early Wednesday morning.
A person, whose identity has not yet been released, is still holed up in the apartment, according to an unnamed police official.
They encountered fierce resistance during the raid, which started at 4:20 a.m. local time and was still ongoing after dawn broke. Gunfire and explosions were heard and dozens of police officers have the address surrounded. No hostages were thought to be involved.
One of the two people killed was a female who detonated a suicide belt.
27-year-old Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of Friday’s attacks, is believed to be the focus on the raid. He was previously thought to have been in Syria.
Deputy Mayor Stephane Peu urged local residents to stay indoors during the raid, saying “it is not a new attack but a police intervention.”
Authorities evacuated some 20 residents from the building earlier in the night. A city official told the Associated Press that they were brought to the city hall, around 200 meters away, for protection.
The raid is taking place around a mile (1.6 km) from the Stade de France stadium, where three suicide bombers blew themselves up during an international soccer match between England and France on Friday as part of the coordinated attacks that left 129 dead.
-mashable