AN ENDURING THREAT: EUROPE’S ISLAMIST TERROR NETWORKS THEN AND NOW 1.3 Paris: Attackers 147 148 ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD aka Umar al-Baljiki and Abu Omar Role: 149 Abaaoud planned and oversaw the Paris attacks. He is reported to have been present near the 150 151 Bataclan during the Paris attacks and to have participated in attacks on cafés and restaurants, as well as 152 providing transport for at least one suicide bomber. Abaaoud had also planned an attack in the La 153 154 Defense area of Paris and has been connected to a number of other plots. He is also believed to have been involved in recruiting IS operatives in Syria for attacks in Europe.155 Bio: 156 Abaaoud is believed to have been born in the Anderlecht area of Brussels on 8 April 1987 and was 157 158 a Belgian national of Moroccan ancestry. He attended a prestigious Catholic school in Brussels for one year before dropping out, and after being thrown out by his parents at 16 he eventually ended up leading a life of a petty criminal in the Molenbeek area of Brussels. After numerous convictions, he was sent to prison in 2011 and again in 2012, being released in September that year. He is believed to have become involved with extremists while in prison and on his release became close to a group recruiting young men to travel to Syria, and left for the country in March 2013, returning to abduct his younger brother before leaving again in January 2014. After this, he is believed to have returned to Europe on a 159 number of occasions before he travelled to carry out the Paris attacks. In November 2015 he was killed 160 in a police raid in the Parisian suburb of Saint Denis. Foreign training/combat: Abaaoud first left to fight in Syria in 2013 before returning and then travelling 161 again in January 2014. He identified himself as a member of IS in March 2014, posting videos of himself on the front lines, including one in which he was filmed driving a truck to which dead bodies were ! ! 147 Stone, J,. ‘Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud 'visited UK over the summer', intelligence agencies believe’, Independent, 26 December 2015, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/paris-attacks-ringleader-abdelhamid-abaaoud-visited-uk-over-the-summer-intelligence-agencies-believe- a6786381.html, last visited: 9 August 2016. 148 ‘IS in Europe: The Race to the Death’, BBC News, 23 March 2016, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35872562, last visited: 9 August 2016. 149 Allen, P. and Ian Gallagher, ‘Casual evil of Paris killers: Chilling new film of mastermind strolling to Bataclan after his bloody massacre while accomplice saunters into café seconds before detonating suicide vest’, 9 January 2016, available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3392048/Casual-evil-Paris-killers- Chilling-new-film-mastermind-strolling-Bataclan-bloody-massacre-accomplice-saunters-cafe-seconds-detonating-suicide-vest.html; Porter, T., ‘Isis: Paris attacks planner Abdelhamid Abaaoud 'met jihadists on UK visit’’, International Business Times, 10 January 2016, available at: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/paris-attacks- planner-abdelhamid-abaaoud-isis-met-jihadists-uk-visit-1537074; and Callimachi, R., ‘How ISIS Built the Machinery of Terror Under Europe’s Gaze’, The New York Times, 29 March 2016, available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/europe/isis-attacks-paris-brussels.html?_r=0. All last visited: 9 August 2016. 150 ‘Paris attacks: Ringleader Abaaoud 'was near' Bataclan theatre’, BBC News, 24 November 2015, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34916445, last visited: 9 August 2016. 151 Smith, A. and Nancy Ing, ‘Reda Kriket Arrested, Linked to Paris Ringleader’, NBC News, 25 March 2016, available at: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/paris- terror-attacks/reda-kriket-arrested-linked-paris-ringleader-report-n545346, last visited: 9 August 2016. 152 Gartenstein-Ross, D. and Nathaniel Barr, ‘Recent Attacks Illuminate the Islamic State’s Europe Attack Network’, The Jamestown Foundation, 27 April 2016, available at: http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=45362&tx_ttnews[backPid]=7&cHash=480fc6c02c16ce0b3571fc5635fd699c#.VyN0IjArLIX, last visited: 9 August 2016. 153 Brisard, J., ‘THE PARIS ATTACKS AND THE EVOLVING ISLAMIC STATE THREAT TO FRANCE’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 14 December 2015, available at: https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-paris-attacks-and-the-evolving-islamic-state-threat-to-france, last visited: 9 August 2016. 154 See networks and associates section. 155 Van Vlierden, G., ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015, available at: https://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/profile-paris-attack-ringleader-abdelhamid-abaaoud, last visited: 9 August 2016. 156 ibid. 157 ‘Paris attacks: Who was Abdelhamid Abaaoud?’, BBC News, 19 November 2015, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34835046; and Dearden, L, ‘Abdelhamid Abaaoud: What we know about Belgian man identified as suspected Paris attacks 'mastermind'’, Independent, 16 November 2015, available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/abdelhamid-abaaoud-belgian-man-identified-as-suspected-mastermind-of-paris-attacks- a6735871.html. Both last visited: 9 August 2016. 158 Faiola, A. and Souad Mekhennet, ‘The Islamic State creates a new type of jihadist: Part terrorist, part gangster’, The Washington Post, 20 December 2015. 159 Van Vlierden, G., ‘PROFILE: PARIS ATTACK RINGLEADER ABDELHAMID ABAAOUD’, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, 15 December 2015; and Faiola, A. and Souad Mekhennet, ‘The Islamic State creates a new type of jihadist: Part terrorist, part gangster’, The Washington Post, 20 December 2015. 160 ‘Paris attacks: 'Ringleader' Abdelhamid Abaaoud killed in raid’, BBC News, 19 November 2015, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe- 34867615, last visited: 9 August 2016. 161 Faiola, A. and Souad Mekhennet, ‘The Islamic State creates a new type of jihadist: Part terrorist, part gangster’, The Washington Post, 20 December 2015. ! ! 18 !