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Salah Abdeslam: Police stopped Paris attack suspect near Belgian border hours after killings - but let him go

Abdeslam was one of three people travelling in a car that was pulled over briefly near the Belgian border on Saturday

Doug Bolton
Monday 16 November 2015 00:07 GMT
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Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old who is wanted for his part in Friday's killings
Salah Abdeslam, the 26-year-old who is wanted for his part in Friday's killings

A man who is believed to be one of the gunmen involved in Friday's bloody attacks in Paris was pulled over briefly by police near the French-Belgian border on Saturday morning, but was later released.

French police today issued an arrest warrant for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old French national who is thought to be one of the three brothers who took part in the attacks, which killed at least 129 people.

Salah rented the Volkswagen Polo which was parked outside the Bataclan concert hall, where 89 people were murdered during an Eagles of Death Metal concert.

Speaking to the Associated Press, four French officials said he was one of three people travelling in a car which was stopped at the French-Belgian border, around 120 miles from Paris, early on Saturday morning, hours after he had been identified as the renter of the car.

He was questioned and his ID was checked, but he was later released and is now the focus of an international manhunt.

One of the brothers, named as Ibrahim, died on Friday, and another unnamed brother has been arrested in Brussels, one of seven men arrested in the Belgian capital in connection with the attacks.

Since the attacks, police have found three Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition inside a car that was abandoned in the Parisian suburb of Montreuil. It is also thought to have been rented to one of the brothers.

Salah is thought to be the third brother. French police described him as "dangerous", and urged the public not to approach him if they spot him.

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