(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Police in Paris have identified a 29-year-old French national as being part of one of the three terrorist teams that wreaked havoc in the city on Friday night, killing 129 people and wounding 352 others in a shooting and bombing spree that last barely 20 minutes.
The man, whose identity was given by the Prosecutor's Office as Omar Ismail Mostefai, was a small-time delinquent, with a series of convictions in the period from 2004-2010. But the crimes were minor and never led Mostefai to jail, police details said on Sunday.
Separately, media sources said that Mostefai's father and brother had been rounded up and detained for questioning in relation to the terrorist offences, although no charges have been formally brought against the two men.
Mostefai was identified through a DNA sample recovered from a severed finger at the Bataclan night club, one of the sites of the six terrorist shootings in Paris on Friday night.
Mostefai is believed to have become radicalised after 2010 and he was noticed by the domestic intelligence services, who put an "S" notice on his profile, denoting a security threat but he was not known for any militant activity.
He is believed to have been one of seven terrorists who went on a killing spree in two districts of Paris - 75010 and 75011 - carrying out attacks on restaurants and cafes, but with the worst attack culminating in the packed Bataclan club, where a live concert was underway when three men entered and opened fire at will on the crowd and then took hostages.
After police had stormed the club, they found 87 dead bodies from gunshot wounds and scores of injured and traumatised. The club has a capacity of 1,500 people and was largely full when the attack occurred but a number of people managed to escape through fire exits.
Mostefai is believed to have blown himself up as the police entered the building and all seven terrorists who died here on Friday night were wearing "suicide belts" and most activated them when confronted with police.
Suicide belts were also used in three bombings Friday night outside the French national stadium, where President Francois Hollande was watching a Franco-German friendly soccer match. The President was "extracted" safely from the venue.
Four people died in those bombings - three attackers and a passer-by - and police say that if the explosions had taken place an hour earlier, it would have been carnage in front of the stadium The bombers set off their devices when spectators had already entered the venue for the game and the streets were largely deserted.
It is the first time that terrorists have used suicide belts in attacks in France.
Meanwhile, police say they have tracked and recovered a vehicle that was used in Paris Friday night and it is being examined for forensics.
Belgian police have also arrested three suspects for potential links with the hiring of another vehicle that was abandoned at one of the attack sites.
The investigation is likely to take some time to collate all the facts and indications relative to the attacks, and the main goal of police is now to identify the attackers and see if any more terrorists are on the loose and if the group had accomplices here.
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