In the latest developments in European politics, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said European countries must “wake up” to terror threats, following the attacks in Paris that left around 129 people dead.
He spoke after it emerged that the suspected Belgian ringleader of the attacks had entered France undetected. Belgian PM Charles Michel has defended Belgium’s security services amid claims the attacks were organised there. It comes after the EU interior ministers are due to hold emergency talks.
The meeting in Brussels is expected to tighten checks at the external borders of the EU’s passport-free Schengen area. On Thursday, French prosecutors confirmed that Islamic State (IS) militant Abdelhamid Abaaoud was among those killed in a police raid the previous day.
His bullet-riddled body was found in the wreckage of a flat in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
Investigators had identified him as the most likely organiser of last Friday’s attacks, but it was initially thought he was in Syria.
At a news conference, Mr Cazeneuve said “no information” had been received from other European countries about his arrival on the continent.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said some of those involved in the attacks had taken advantage of the migration crisis in Europe – which has seen thousands of asylum seekers arrive on the continent – to “slip into” France unnoticed.
One of the attackers, who blew himself up outside the Stade de France, has been traced by his fingerprints to Greece where he was registered as a migrant.
Source: BBC
Tags: Bernard Cazeneuve
