Factbox: The hunt for the Paris attackers
(Reuters) - France and Belgium are hunting down suspects and would-be assailants following the Nov. 13 attacks that killed 130 people and injured more than 350 in Paris. Seven people, all dead, were directly involved in the attack and the total may have been eight or even higher, with investigations centred on Salah Abdeslam. Police think he might be an eighth assailant referred to in a statement where the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks. Here is what we know about the attack suspects and the wider circle pursued by police as attention focuses on the Belgian government warning that there is a "serious and imminent" danger of attacks in Brussels. KEY EVENTS: Nov 13: France. Seven assailants dead: three at the Bataclan concert hall, three outside the Stade de France stadium and one in the cafe killings. Four have been identified by name. Nov 18: France. Three people died and eight were arrested in a police assault on a hideout flat in St. Denis. One of the three was identified as suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin who, sources close to the case say, may also have had a direct role in the Nov. 13 attacks. Nov 21 onwards: Belgium reports serious and imminent danger of Paris-style attacks, deploying soldiers on the streets of Brussels and conducting police searches for would-be attackers as suspects with links to the Paris attacks. UNACCOUNTED FOR: Salah Abdeslam, 26, French, born in Brussels (Sept. 15, 1989). Suspected of having rented the VW Polo and Renault Clio cars used in the attacks. Investigators say he went to Belgium from France the day after the attacks in a VW Golf, despite being stopped by French police along the way in routine road checks, before his name was circulated as a suspect. His brother, Brahim, was killed in the attack (below). A third brother, cleared of any involvement after briefly being detained, said Salah may have had a change of heart in Paris. However, fears that Salah is back in Belgium and/or plotting further attacks prompted the cancellation of an international soccer match in Brussels on Nov. 17, a move that was followed by a broader protective shutdown. Brussels closed the underground rail lines of the capital, schools, shopping centres and other public places on Nov. 20. French police are examining a suspected suicide belt found in a bin in Montrouge on the southwestern edge of Paris, where phone traces suggested Salah was present on the night of Nov. 13. This has fuelled speculation he may have been supposed to carry out a suicide attack but for some reason did not. DEAD ATTACKERS: Bataclan: (three dead gunmen with suicide vests, of which two have been identified by name) Ismail Omar Mostefai, 29 (born Nov. 21, 1985), Frenchman of Algerian descent involved in the Nov. 13. Bataclan attack, lived for a time in Chartres area, southwest of Paris. Born in Courcouronnes, south of Paris. Source: prosecutor's office/judiciary sources. His name was put on French intelligence services' "S notice" in 2010 for reported radicalisation. An unnamed senior Turkish government official says Turkey contacted France about Mostefai in December 2014 and June 2015 but only got a return request for information on him after the Paris attacks.. Samy Amimour, 28 (born Oct. 15, 1987), involved in the Bataclan attack. French, from Drancy near St. Denis. Subject of international arrest warrant since late 2013. Had been under official investigation since October 2012 on suspicion of terrorism-related activity over a plan to go to Yemen. Source: Paris prosecutor's office statement. Other: A third attacker in the Bataclan attack was killed by police. No further identity information has been provided. Comptoir Voltaire, Paris cafe: (1 dead suicide bomber) Brahim Abdeslam, 31 (born July 30, 1984), French citizen but born and raised in Brussels, where he ran a bar in the Molenbeek district with brother Salah. Blew himself up at Paris Comptoir Voltaire cafe. His fingerprints were found on one of the AK47 rifles left in a Seat Leon car used in the attacks. Stade de France: (three dead suicide bombers, 1 named) Bilal Hadfi, 20 (born Jan 22, 1995). Blew himself up in the Nov. 13 attack on Stade de France stadium. He dropped out of school in Brussels in February 2014 to travel to Syria. Believing he was back, police bugged his apartment but he did not show up. Other: A man blew himself up outside Gate D at the Stade de France. A passport found near his dead body has the name of Ahmad Al Mohammad, 25, (born Sept. 10, 1990), from Idlib, northwest Syria. His fingerprints match up with prints of a person registered under that name as arriving in Greece in Oct. 3, 2015. Source: French prosecutor's office. It has not been confirmed that the bomber is the man in the passport. Other: The fingerprints of a third man who blew himself up outside Gate H of the Stade de France show that he passed through Greece at the same time as the other unidentified stadium suicide bomber, prosecutors say. Police have published a photo in an appeal for help to identify the man. OTHER DEAD: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, grew up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, but vanished in 2013 and showed up in Syria. Local media say he was jailed for robbery in 2010 and spent time in prison alongside Salah Abdeslam. Before the attacks, European governments believed Abaaoud was still in Syria, having been in Belgium in January plotting attacks that were foiled when police raided a house in Verviers, killing two Belgian associates. Closed circuit TV footage showed Abaaoud entering the Croix de Chavaux metro railway station in eastern Paris, a couple of hundred metres from where the Seat Leon was found, police say. His fingerprints were found on one of three AK47 assault rifles left in the car. The footage, which places Abaaoud at the station soon after the first shootings but while the attack at the concert hall was underway, has prompted speculation he may have taken part directly in the attacks, and not just organised them. Hasna Aitboulahcen: woman, 26, who died during the Nov. 18 police assault in St. Denis. Police were tapping her phone as part of a drugs probe and watched her lead Abaaoud back to the apartment before the raid. Source: police and judicial sources. Police sources also say the woman was called, apparently in haste, by Abaaoud to find him a hideout on Nov. 13. Other: Third person who died in Nov. 18 St. Denis assault. Investigators have isolated the person's DNA but have not identified them. DETAINED: In France: Jawad Bendaoud, one of eight arrested in St. Denis swoop, who provided lodgings for Abaaoud. Jawad told French TV as he was being led away to custody on Nov. 18 that he was unaware he had helped suspected terrorists. The other seven arrested, five of whom are thought to be illegal squatters who had taken refuge in the same building, according to police sources, were released after questioning. In Turkey: Ahmet Dahmani, a Belgian man of Moroccan origin suspected of some form of involvement in the Paris attack was arrested by police in Turkey on Nov. 21, a government official said. A Turkish news agency said he acted as a 'scout' in selecting target locations. Dahmani, 26, was arrested at a luxury hotel in the southern Turkish coastal city of Antalya after travelling from Amsterdam on Nov. 14. Two suspected accomplices were also arrested, the official said. In Belgium: Four have been detained on suspicion of terrorist-related so far after dozens of arrests. Only two have been named. The two detained on Nov. 14, Mohammad Amri, 27, and Hamza Attouh, 21, went to Paris by car shortly after the attacks to fetch Salah Abdeslam and bring him back to Belgium. The two others, not named, are one person arrested on Nov. 19 for possession of weapons and another arrested on Nov. 22 on charges of links to an attack. Regarding the named men, lawyer Xavier Carette said his client Amri was an unwitting accomplice who knew nothing about any role in attacks when he drove Salah Abdeslam back from Paris to Brussels on night of Nov. 13-14. A lawyer for Attouh quoted him as saying that Abdeslam was "extremely tense" and may have still been wearing a suicide belt under his down jacket. Mohammad Abdeslam, brother of Salah and dead Brahim, was among five released after arrests on Nov. 19. (Compiled by Brian Love with reporters in Paris and Brussels; Editing by David Clarke)
