Assailant in Paris attacks identified

15 November 2015 10:23 am

French police have identified one of the assailants in the coordinated attacks in Paris as Ismael Omar Mostefai, a 29-year- old French national, and seven of his relatives are being questioned, sources and French media said today.

Authorities had a dossier on Mostefai that marked him as a potential Islamist militant. He also had previous arrest records and had been sentenced eight times for petty crimes, according to French newspaper Le Monde. Mostefai was one of the gunmen who blew himself up in a Paris concert hall where most of the 129 deaths from the attacks late on Friday took place.

His father, a brother and five other people are being held for questioning, several French media reported on Sunday, as the hunt continued for others involved in the shootings. (REUTERS)