Paris (CNN)[Breaking news alert, posted at 3:43 p.m. ET Sunday]
Bilal Hafdi was one of the attackers in Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris, according to several sources. Hafdi, who was killed in the attacks, was a Belgian resident who was 19 or 20 years old, the sources said. He is thought to have fought in Syria, Belgian terror expert Guy Van Vlierden said.
[Previous story, posted at 3:12 p.m. ET Sunday]
Authorities are hunting for a Belgium-born French national who is suspected to have been involved in the Paris terror attacks.
Belgian and French officials want to find Salah Abdeslam, the French prosecutor’s office told CNN. Belgium has issued an international warrant for him.
French police released his photo and warned people not to interact with him, saying that he is dangerous.
[AppelàTémoin] La #PJ recherche 1 individu susceptible d'être impliqué ds les attentats du 13/11/2015 #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/Gpr4MY1I53
— Police nationale (@PoliceNationale) November 15, 2015
Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 132, according to news agency Agence France-Presse, citing hospitals. At least 352 people were wounded, many of them seriously.
Investigators are working around the clock. The Islamic terror group ISIS has claimed responsibility for the slaughter.
Reflecting just how nervous Paris is right now, a panic broke out Sunday evening in a crowd gathered at a memorial erected at one of the sites of Friday’s terror attacks.
Video showed mourners suddenly spooked, though it’s still unclear why. People ran away screaming. Some jumped over lit candles of the memorial, others grabbed their children and sprinted away. The panic ended quickly and police have cleared the memorial, saying no one is allowed to gather, at least for the time being.
It’s possible that suspects directly involved in Friday’s Paris terror attacks remain at large, a French counterterrorism source close to the investigation told CNN on Sunday.
A number of arrests linked to the attacks have been made in Belgium, but it is unclear whether they include the occupant or occupants of an abandoned car with weapons inside found in eastern Paris, the source said.
Hiding among refugees?
Those revelations come as new details about the attackers emerge.
At least one of the terrorists apparently entered the European Union hidden among the wave of refugees arriving on European shores.
European officials believe, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour reports, that there is “a very professional new squad of terrorists inserting themselves into some of wthese migrant voyages.”
One of three bombers who detonated themselves at the Stade de France late Friday arrived on the Greek island of Leros on October 3 among numerous Syrian refugees, Amanpour reported, citing an unnamed French senator who was briefed by the Ministry of the Interior.
The man declared himself to be Syrian, said his name was Ahmad al Mohammad and was, under new procedures set up to help refugees, issued a new emergency passport or similar document.
From Leros, he traveled to Macedonia, Serbia and then Croatia, Amanpour reported.
The fingerprints from the bomber at the Stade de France match those taken when the man was issued his emergency travel document on Leros.
The two other suicide bombers at the stadium carried false Turkish passports, Amanpour reported.
Late Sunday evening local time, CNN learned that Belgium has issued an international arrest warrant for a man suspected in the Paris attacks, according to Jean-Pascal Thoreau, a spokesman in the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. The man is thought to be one of three brothers suspected of involvement, the spokesman told CNN.
