An American woman is among at least 129 people killed in the terrorists attacks in Paris, three U.S. officials said. That news is among the first snippets of information about the background of people who lost their lives in Friday’s attacks. Earlier, the Belgian Foreign Ministry said at least two Belgians were among the dead.
With ISIS claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks, the investigation moved beyond France as Belgian authorities made a number of arrests there in the first publicized apprehensions following Friday night’s violence, a Belgian justice ministry spokeswoman told.
The raids were conducted in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a Brussels suburb, justice ministry spokeswoman Sieghild Lacoere said.
Lacoere told CNN that a car rented in Brussels was found near one of the sites of the attacks in France and “that’s what triggered the raids.”
The raids took place in three homes in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, a Western intelligence source told CNN.
At least one of the raids is connected to the Paris attacks, according to the source, who is in contact with French and Belgian intelligence services. The other raids are connected to individuals known to Belgium intelligence, the source said. Some of the Paris attackers are also known to Belgium intelligence, the source added.
The raids came after France saw its worst violence since World War II, which the French President deemed “an act of war.”
In the nearly simultaneous Paris attacks on Friday night, the assailants targeted six sites, the deadliest being a massacre at a concert hall where at least 80 people were killed.
The number of people killed in the Paris attacks stands at 129, and 352 people other people were injured — at least 99 seriously, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Saturday.
The threat of ISIS is well-known, with the jihadist group’s atrocities in Syria and Iraq being met with condemnation and airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition that includes France
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