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| Inquiry Finds Mounting Proof of Syria Link to Paris Attacks | Inquiry Finds Mounting Proof of Syria Link to Paris Attacks |
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| PARIS — On both sides of the Atlantic, the fast-moving investigation into the deadly Paris terrorist attacks steadily accumulated clues on Sunday: a car discovered in the Parisian suburbs with a cache of weapons. Mounting proof of links between the Islamic State in Syria and the attackers. And intense scrutiny on three brothers, living in Belgium, as crucial suspects in the elaborate plot. | |
| With investigators moving on multiple fronts and a manhunt underway for a suspect described as dangerous, with much still unknown, increasing evidence suggested that at least one of the eight attackers had visited Syria, the central stronghold of the Islamic State. | With investigators moving on multiple fronts and a manhunt underway for a suspect described as dangerous, with much still unknown, increasing evidence suggested that at least one of the eight attackers had visited Syria, the central stronghold of the Islamic State. |
| Others had been communicating with known members of the group before Friday’s horrific assault on Paris, investigators said. Officials were even exploring the possibility that a Syrian national may have been sent to join the attackers, slipping into Europe along with thousands of refugees. | |
| French officials said American security services had alerted them in September to vague but credible information that French jihadists in Syria were planning some type of attack. | |
| That tip, the officials said, contributed to France’s decision to launch what it hoped might be pre-emptive airstrikes on Oct. 8 against the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, where France struck with a new and far larger round of airstrikes Sunday night — this time in retaliation. | |
| The carnage from the attacks in Paris, which so far have claimed 129 lives while leaving hundreds wounded, has presented France with its second major security breakdown in less than a year, after the January terrorist assault against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher grocery store. | |
| But the complexity and coordination of the attacks suggest a growing and ominous sophistication among terrorist networks, American and French officials said. | |
| The attack also illustrated how such networks operating in Europe are oblivious to national boundaries, posing yet another challenge. The authorities said that several of the assailants had lived quietly in Belgium even as they prepared to strike France. | |
| European intelligence officials said that the one attacker who they believed went to Syria was Ismaël Omar Mostefaï, a French national. He had traveled to Turkey in 2012, and probably then slipped into Syria. | European intelligence officials said that the one attacker who they believed went to Syria was Ismaël Omar Mostefaï, a French national. He had traveled to Turkey in 2012, and probably then slipped into Syria. |
| European officials said they believed the Paris attackers had used some kind of encrypted communication, but offered no evidence. “The working assumption is that these guys were very security aware, and they assumed they would be under some level of observation, and acted accordingly,” said a senior European counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential reporting. | European officials said they believed the Paris attackers had used some kind of encrypted communication, but offered no evidence. “The working assumption is that these guys were very security aware, and they assumed they would be under some level of observation, and acted accordingly,” said a senior European counterterrorism official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential reporting. |
| A French official said that some of the attackers had demonstrated a discipline that suggested military-style training, and that the plot involved considerable planning and input from an organized group. | A French official said that some of the attackers had demonstrated a discipline that suggested military-style training, and that the plot involved considerable planning and input from an organized group. |
| But some analysts noted that many aspects of the assault had failed. The suicide bombers sent to attack the soccer match between France and Germany did not inflict many casualties. The Islamic State had also boasted of carrying out an attack in the 18th Arrondissement, but it never happened. | |
| And the suicide bombs used by at least six of the attackers were unsophisticated, according to some analysts. At one cafe in Paris, an attacker managed only to blow himself up. Indeed, his belt may have detonated prematurely on his way to an intended target in the 18th Arrondissement, officials said. | And the suicide bombs used by at least six of the attackers were unsophisticated, according to some analysts. At one cafe in Paris, an attacker managed only to blow himself up. Indeed, his belt may have detonated prematurely on his way to an intended target in the 18th Arrondissement, officials said. |
| Even so, analysts and security officials agreed that the willingness of the attackers to carry out suicide bombings and to kill relentlessly with assault rifles suggested a new level of commitment for attacks in Europe. | |
| “It is coordinated,” said Alain Bauer, a French criminologist who serves on an advisory council to the government. “But the big thing is the determination of the attackers. That in France and Europe is new — people who are willing to kill bullet by bullet.” | “It is coordinated,” said Alain Bauer, a French criminologist who serves on an advisory council to the government. “But the big thing is the determination of the attackers. That in France and Europe is new — people who are willing to kill bullet by bullet.” |
| The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said the attackers had “prepared abroad and had mobilized a team of participants in Belgium, and who may have benefited — the investigation will tell us more — from complicity in France.” | |
| The immediate challenge for investigators is to identify all the attackers and piece together how they carried out the plot. French officials say that six attackers died by blowing themselves up and a seventh died in a shootout with the police. | |
| One of those who died after setting off a suicide bomb at the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were killed, was identified by the authorities after they recovered a finger and matched his prints to a file that listed him as radicalized and a potential security threat. He was named as Mr. Mostefaï, a native of Courcouronnes, France, who had been living in Chartres, roughly 60 miles southwest of Paris. | |
| Mr. Mostefaï was the middle of five children born to an Algerian father and a Portuguese mother, and he had once worked at a bakery, according to a former neighbor at a housing development outside Chartres. | |
| “It was a normal family, just like everybody else,” said the neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “He played with my children. He never spoke about religion. He was normal. He had a joie de vivre. He laughed a lot.” | “It was a normal family, just like everybody else,” said the neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “He played with my children. He never spoke about religion. He was normal. He had a joie de vivre. He laughed a lot.” |
| For reasons that are unclear, Mr. Mostefaï changed. “It was in 2010, that’s when he started to become radicalized,” the neighbor said. “We don’t understand what happened.” | For reasons that are unclear, Mr. Mostefaï changed. “It was in 2010, that’s when he started to become radicalized,” the neighbor said. “We don’t understand what happened.” |
| European officials said Mr. Mostefaï had traveled to Turkey in 2012 and probably continued into Syria. It was unclear exactly where he went during the trip, how long he stayed or who he met, but officials said they were confident he had entered Syria. | |
| “Yes, it is very probable that he went to Syria after first traveling to Turkey,” the senior European counterterrorism official said. “He went there and then returned to France.” | |
| In the search to trace the others, investigators focused on Belgium. Authorities there have arrested several people in Molenbeek, an impoverished section of Brussels that is home to many Arab immigrants and that has been linked to past terror attacks. | |
| Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the January attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, is believed to have bought weapons in Molenbeek. Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who targeted the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in 2014, killing four people, also reportedly obtained weapons there. | Amedy Coulibaly, who carried out the January attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, is believed to have bought weapons in Molenbeek. Mehdi Nemmouche, a Frenchman who targeted the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in 2014, killing four people, also reportedly obtained weapons there. |
| Most recently, Ayoub El Khazzani, a Moroccan who was thwarted in his attempt to attack passengers on a high-speed train to Paris from Amsterdam, is also thought to have lived there at some point. | |
| “I notice that each time there is a link with Molenbeek,” Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said on Sunday. “This is a gigantic problem.” | “I notice that each time there is a link with Molenbeek,” Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said on Sunday. “This is a gigantic problem.” |
| Investigators have identified three brothers in Molenbeek as crucial players in the Paris attacks. Belgian prosecutors identified one of the brothers, Ibrahim Abdeslam, as the suicide bomber who struck the Comptoir Voltaire cafe. Another brother, Mohamed, was detained on Saturday in Molenbeek. | Investigators have identified three brothers in Molenbeek as crucial players in the Paris attacks. Belgian prosecutors identified one of the brothers, Ibrahim Abdeslam, as the suicide bomber who struck the Comptoir Voltaire cafe. Another brother, Mohamed, was detained on Saturday in Molenbeek. |
| A third, Abdeslam Salah, 26, described as dangerous, is the subject of a widening manhunt by the French. He apparently slipped through their fingers immediately after the attacks. | |
| ”He was stopped and his papers were checked,” said Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office. “It was a routine road check. He showed his papers. ” | ”He was stopped and his papers were checked,” said Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office. “It was a routine road check. He showed his papers. ” |
| Asked if there had been anything in his papers to indicate that he should have been arrested, she replied, “Nothing.” | |
| Two vehicles used in the attacks had been rented in Belgium early last week, the federal prosecutor for Belgium announced on Sunday. One was a gray Volkswagen Polo, abandoned near the Bataclan concert hall after being used by the three attackers who died there. | |
| The other, a black Seat Leon, was discovered early Sunday morning in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil. Inside were three Kalashnikov rifles, amid speculation that the vehicle had been a getaway car for shooters in central Paris. | |
| Beyond Belgium, the investigation also focused on a presumed support network in France, and on Greece, amid the possibility that one of the attackers had come into Europe posing as a refugee. It is still unclear whether one of the suicide bombers was a Syrian national who had come into Greece last month on one of the thousands of boats arriving from Turkey, many of them stuffed with Syrians fleeing civil war. Investigators found a Syrian passport near the remains of one of the suicide bombers. | |
| On Sunday, Greek officials confirmed that someone holding that passport, in the name of Ahmad al-Mohammad, 25, had landed on the Greek island of Leros on Oct. 3, and then traveled through Croatia and Serbia. The possibility that terrorists have sneaked into Europe posing as refugees has inflamed the already explosive migrant debate in Europe. | |
| But the senior European counterterrorism official raised a yellow flag about the passport, saying that authorities were still not convinced he was one of the gunmen. The official said that when foreign fighters go to Syria, the Islamic State makes them surrender their passports. If they are killed, or even if they are not, their passports can be given to someone else returning home. | But the senior European counterterrorism official raised a yellow flag about the passport, saying that authorities were still not convinced he was one of the gunmen. The official said that when foreign fighters go to Syria, the Islamic State makes them surrender their passports. If they are killed, or even if they are not, their passports can be given to someone else returning home. |
| The United States, France and several European countries had obtained intelligence in recent months showing that the Islamic State was plotting something in France, but the countries did not know when it would occur and what it would entail, according to senior American officials. | |
| Several Western intelligence agencies helped develop the information, the officials said, adding that the agencies had shared the information with one another. | Several Western intelligence agencies helped develop the information, the officials said, adding that the agencies had shared the information with one another. |
| Since the Islamic State grabbed wide swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014, the intelligence agencies have detected a wide array of chatter about potential plots, but many never came to fruition. | |
| “We had some indication something was happening, but we did not have enough information to take action to disrupt it,” said one of the officials. “We didn’t know when and where.” Another official said it was clear “something was in the wind, but there weren’t specifics.” | “We had some indication something was happening, but we did not have enough information to take action to disrupt it,” said one of the officials. “We didn’t know when and where.” Another official said it was clear “something was in the wind, but there weren’t specifics.” |