Wednesday, raiding a purported hideout of the suspected ringleader in last week's deadly Paris attacks in an operation that ended with eight detained, two dead and potentially more bloodshed thwarted. But what about that suspected ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud? At one point, authorities believe he was holed up on the third floor of an apartment building in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Wednesday. Whether he was there when scores of heavily armed French police launched their assault at 4:20
a.m. Wednesday (10:20 p.m. ET
Tuesday) is unknown. Some residents in the area told CNN they saw Abaaoud recently in the neighborhood and at a local mosque. Investigators zeroed in on the building after picking up phone conversations indicating that a relative of Abaaoud might be there. They met fierce resistance from the start, including an armored door, a woman who blew herself up and bullets flying back and forth for about an hour. The French officers even used powerful munitions, which led to one floor of the building collapsing. That violence produced rubble that included body parts, on which
investigators are conducting DNA
tests. Neither Abaaoud nor suspect Salah Abdeslam, for whom authorities have been hunting since the attacks, were among those detained in the operation, Molins said. French President Francois Hollande held up the vicious back-and-forth as further proof that "we are at war" with ISIS. "What the terrorists were targeting was what France represents. This is what was attacked on the night of November 13," he said. "These barbarians targeted France's diversity. It was the youth of France who were targeted simply because they represent life."
ISIS first drew international attention
for taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria, leaving a trail of violence and destruction in its wake. And its efforts to bring terror to the global stage seem to be growing. This month alone, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks, the downing of a Russian passenger jet in Egypt and a pair of suicide bombings in Beirut. France had already been part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS with airstrikes. But the country has stepped up its efforts since the series of shootings and explosions in Paris last week, which killed 129 people. Now, Hollande has proposed extending France's state of emergency for three more months -- a measure that,
among other things, gives authorities
greater powers in conducting searches, holding people and dissolving certain groups. To go after the Islamist extremist group, the French President also said he would appeal to world leaders -- including meeting next week with U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have been at odds on what to do in Syria. "There is no more ... divide. There are only men and women of duty," he said. "We must destroy this army that menaces the entire world, not just some countries."
Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman
Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed that 12 people were killed in the attack. Video images on the website of public broadcaster France Televisions showed two gunmen in black at a crossroads who appeared to fire down one of the streets. A cry of "Allahu akbar!", Arabic for 'God is great', could be heard among the gunshots. The extremist Islamic State group has threatened to attack France and minutes before the attack Charlie Hebdo had tweeted a satirical cartoon of that extremist group's leader giving New Year's wishes. The cartoon entitled ``Still No Attacks in France'' had a caricature of an extremist
fighter saying ``Just wait we have
until the end of January to present our New Year's wishes.''