Hasna Ait Boulahcen, cousin of Paris attacks mastermind DID NOT blow herself up

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Body of woman was found in debris by police combing siege flat for clues
Hasna Ait Boulahcen was believed to have blown herself up during siege
Her cousin, who masterminded Paris attacks, was also killed in Saint Denis
Investigators are trying to identify third body 'believed to be that of a man'

By Nick Fagge In Paris and Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline

Published: 05:17 EST, 20 November 2015 | Updated: 17:36 EST, 20 November 2015

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The woman who was thought to have blown herself up in the Saint Denis gun siege was actually killed when another member of the Islamic cell let off a bomb, according to a source within the French police.

Hasna Ait Boulahcen, 26, was believed to have become Europe's first female suicide bomber when she let off her explosive vest at a flat in the suburb of Paris during a police raid on Wednesday morning.

But a police source has now revealed she is believed to have died because another member of her terrorist cell let off a bomb as armed officers attempted to storm the third floor property.

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Suicide bomber: Hasna Ait Boulahcen (pictured) did not blow herself up during a siege of an ISIS safehouse in the Saint Denis suburb of Paris, police have said

Destroyed: A third body has been found at the Paris siege flat (above) where Ait Boulahcen was thought to have blown herself up

Armed: Officers tracked Abaaoud to the flat after following Boulahcen and watched her take him into the building

The French Ministry today released photos of the raid in Saint Denis on November 18th, which left Adelhamid Abaaoud, the so-called mastermind of the Paris attacks dead. His French born cousin Ait Boulahcen died when a third person detonated a suicide bomb

French born Ait Boulahcen is the cousin of the mastermind of the Paris terror attacks, Belgian-born Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

'Hasna Ait Boulahcen, cousin of the suspected mastermind of the Paris attack, whose body was found in the rubble of the apartment in Saint Denis raided by police, was not killed in a suicide bombing,' the police source explained.

Three people died in the assault - the Paris attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud, his cousin Hasna Ait Boulahcen and a man who has not yet been identified.

Investigators believe that the third person, the unnamed man, let off his own suicide bomb which caused a massive explosion, not Ait Boulahcen as previously thought.

Police officers have described how Ait Boulahcen had called out to them shortly before the explosion, crying: 'Help me, help me.'

Armed officers believed she had called out to lure them into a trap.

Asked to explain the misidentification, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said: 'All I can tell you is that the kamikaze [suicide bomber] was not Hasna.'

Colleagues of Mr Molins said 'more human parts', a handbag and Ait Boulahcen's French passport were also found in the rubble of the Saint Denis apartment block.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the death toll of the deadly Paris attacks on Friday had risen by one to 130.

He made the announcement in a speech to the French Senate which is expected to approve a three-month extension to France's state of emergency.

Shocking footage was believed to show Ait Boulahcen's head and spine bursting through a window following an explosion in the besieged apartment block

Part of the spine (blurred, centre left) of a suicide bomber was seen in street after the fierce gunfight in Saint Denis

It came as counter-terrorism officers also raided a mosque in the western port city of Brest at 3.30am today.

It was the first time that a mosque has been targeted since the current crisis started exactly a week ago.

It went on for two-and-a-half hours, as police were also seen swarming into the nearby home of the mosque's radical Imam, Rachid Abou Houdeyfa.

Jean-Luc Videlaine, the Finistere prefect, said: 'The home of Rachid Eljay, better known as the Imam Rachid Abou Houdeyfa, was also raided while he was there, while others close to him were helping with the raid on the mosque.'

Last month, Abou Houdeyfa caused outrage when he suggested that any Muslims who listened to music risked being turned into pork or a monkey by Allah.

But he has also condemned the Paris bloodbath, saying that the ISIS terrorists responsible 'had nothing to do with Islam'.

Meanwhile, more details were emerging about the investigation that led French police to the flat in Saint Denis.

According to a police source, officers tracked Abaaoud to the flat after following Boulahcen and watched her take him into the building.

French police had been tapping Boulahcen's phone as part of an investigation into potential drug offences and were able to track her down in the Saint Denis suburb.

Police outside the flat of Boulahcen's father. Friends said she remained 'close' to her father and would regularly visit his home in Creutzwald, Moselle. She lived with him for two months

Tributes and flowers surround a fountain in remembrance of the victims of the Paris attacks, at Trafalgar Square in London

People danced tonight while uniting for a tribute near a makeshift memorial for the victims of a series of deadly attacks in Paris at the city's Place de la Republique

'A physical surveillance took place which allowed us to establish that the young woman and the jihadist went into the building in Rue Corbillon in Saint Denis on Tuesday early in the evening,' the source said, declining to be identified because he is not authorised to speak officially.

According to the source, after police learned that Abaaoud was in France and not in Syria as they previously thought, they set out to find Boulahcen in the hope he may be with her.

Moroccan security officials provided information that helped their French counterparts launch the raids in the Paris suburb, a Moroccan source said earlier this week.

Boulahcen and Abaaoud are both of Moroccan origin. According to the police source, its was these Moroccan officials who told the French authorities Abaaoud was in France.

The king of Morocco was on a visit to France on Thursday.

It also emerged today that Moroccan authorities last month arrested Abaaoud's younger brother, Yassine, after he arrived in his father's hometown of Agadir, according to a Moroccan security source.

Yassine was arrested after his plane landed in Agadir and has been held in custody since, the source told Reuters.

It was unclear why Yassine had travelled to Morocco or whether he has ties with the militant cell in Europe. The source declined to give further details on the arrest.

TIMELINE OF THE BATTLE OF SAINT-DENIS: HOW POLICE WERE MET WITH HAIL OF BULLETS AS THE SIEGE UNFOLDED

Elite French firearms teams fought a ferocious seven-hour battle with terror suspects in a cramped apartment block. They stormed the flat in Saint-Denis following intelligence that it was being used as a hideout by the masterminds behind the Paris massacres and that the fanatics inside were plotting another atrocity. Chris Greenwood, Emily Kent Smith and Josh White detail how the bloody drama unfolded:

04.00: Police stream into Saint-Denis where they believe terror mastermind Abdel Hamid Abaaoud is holed up. They were led there by monitoring Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a French-born woman cousin of Abaaoud. They also believe that on-the-run terrorist Salah Abdeslam and a ninth attacker are among five fanatics present.

04.15: Hundreds of police marksmen, supported by military units, surround an apartment block at 8, Rue du Corbillon.

04.25: Officers from counter-terrorist unit RAID storm the building. Bullets ricochet off surrounding properties as they are met with a hail of gunfire. An explosion rocks the neighbourhood. Several officers are wounded.

Nabil Guerram, 36, who lives nearby, says: 'I was woken with a start at 4.20am by the sound of extremely heavy gunfire. My children were crying. There was non-stop fire for 20 to 25 minutes, then calm, then it started up again for a very long time.'

05.00: Police dog Diesel is killed after she is sent in to check for suspects. A witness says she was 'blown to pieces' in a hail of bullets.

A woman who lives on the floor below hides in her bathroom but there are so many explosions she fears the ceiling is going to collapse. She said she heard gunfire, screaming, and people shouting 'shoot, shoot'. She said she ran away clutching her baby.

05.30: A helicopter arrives overhead and 25 minutes later a motorcade carrying dozens of French soldiers, followed by ambulances and fire engines are seen racing towards the flat. Surrounding roads are sealed off.

Neighbour Caroline Chomienne says she was woken by shooting, adding: 'The firing got louder and it was still going on after an hour. There was a firefight. There was shooting everywhere, but also bomb explosions.'

05.45: Residents run for their lives. Omar Dati, a 17-year-old student, said: 'It was like a warzone. We didn't know where to run.'

06.27: Sporadic gunfire continues to be heard, and terrified residents are warned to stay indoors. Schools remain closed and public transport is shut down.

07.00: Jawad Ben Dow, the apartment's landlord, tells how he let 'two men from Belgium' use it for a few days as a favour, saying: 'A friend asked me to put up two of his friends for a few days. I said there was no mattress.

'They told me, 'It's not a problem'.' They just wanted water and to pray. I was asked to do a favour, I did a favour. I didn't know they were terrorists.'

07.30: Siege enters its third hour and seven blasts rock Saint-Denis. Visibly nervous police officers reveal several colleagues have been injured in the close-quarters fighting.

07.45: Up to 20 people, including children, are evacuated from the apartment block.

07.50: One man said he thought he would die when the shooting started and hid under his bed with his young son. 'I was afraid,' he said. 'My son heard and he was crying a lot. I tried to calm him down but he was crying. The police arrived and they said, 'Get out quick! This building is going to blow up'.'

08.00: Police block roads leading to Saint-Denis, shining green lasers at anyone to stop them coming too close.

09.00: A woman – believed to be Ait Boulahcen – detonates a suicide belt as she pretends to give herself up. Police later reveal that she was killed when the terrorist next to her blew himself up. Witness Christian, 20, said the street was showered in body parts after a deafening explosion at a window.

He said: 'I heard a woman shouting 'Help, help, help me!' The police asked her to identify herself and to show herself. She showed her hands but she didn't reveal her face. They shouted at her, 'Keep your hands in the air!' They told her, 'We're going to shoot'. The shooting resumed. Suddenly there was an enormous explosion. It was probably the woman who blew herself up.'

08.30: Police confirm that a man has also been killed, believed to have been shot by one of their snipers. It is not known if Abaaoud is dead or alive. Two further police officers are injured. Explosives used by police cause an entire floor to collapse within the building.

09.00: Prosecutors announce three arrests. A man and a woman were also arrested nearby.

09.30: Police believe one last suspect remains in the apartment.

10.34: A man, naked from the waist down, and wearing a bloodied T-shirt is dragged from the building. No gunfire had been heard for two hours.

11.10: Manhunt for at least one suspect continues, as French police confirm another arrest, taking total to eight.

11.25: Further explosions as police use flash bang grenades to distract anyone left inside the apartment.

11.43: After a cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace, the government declares the seven-hour operation at an end.

13.00: Body parts are found amid the rubble outside the building which will be subjected to DNA analysis to see if they are Abaaoud.

Photographs emerge showing the force of the explosions blew window frames clean out of the walls. Sources later claim Abaaoud was killed in the battle'.

14.25: A resident, who hid with her young son, said: 'The helicopter lit up my living room. I had to talk to someone... I came out when they said it was over.'

But Moroccan security officials had provided information that helped their French counterparts launch a raid in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis on Wednesday, sources have said, where Abdelhamid was killed.

A French police source said four representatives of the Moroccan security services were in Paris on Tuesday to meet the heads of judicial police.

Moroccan authorities have arrested scores of suspected ISIS militants in recent months.

On Monday, police had detained four people linked to the group, the country's interior ministry said.

That cell was planning attacks using explosives, while its leader had close ties to Moroccans fighting with ISIS in order to obtain logistical support. It did not give details of those contacts.

Friends described Hasna Ait Boulahcen as a fun-loving party girl who liked to drink alcohol and was nicknamed 'the cowgirl' due to her love of wearing big cowboy hats

Around 1,500 Moroccan nationals are fighting with armed groups in Syria and Iraq, 220 have returned home and been jailed and 286 have been killed, authorities said earlier this year.

Nearly 158 women and 135 children have also gone there.

Meanwhile, police also raided the home of Boulahcen's mother as it emerged the 26-year-old woman had transformed from a party girl who liked wearing cowboy hats to a radical Islamist who adopted the full-faced veil six months ago.

Her cousin and the architect of the Paris massacres, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was also killed after first being hit in the head by a sniper and then blown to pieces by numerous grenades during the raid in the suburb of Saint-Denis.

His body was so unrecognisable it has taken more than 24 hours for forensic tests to confirm he is now dead using DNA from his saliva.

Abaaoud ended up in Paris after reportedly being in Syria but officials have not said how he managed to travel across so many borders to the French capital.

In addition, authorities have not detailed his exact whereabouts or actions during the deadly rampage that killed 130 people last week in Paris.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said France did not know before last week's deadly attacks that Abaaoud was in Europe, but said he was believed to be behind four of six attacks thwarted since spring by French authorities.

A new clip, obtained by ABC news, was thought to show the explosion that killed Ait Boulahcen.

The video emerged just hours after audio footage from the scene captured her exchange with French police.

In it, an officer shouts to her: 'Where is your boyfriend?', seemingly directed at reports which initially surfaced that Ait Boulahcen may have been Abaaoud's jihadi bride.

She screams back: 'He's not my boyfriend!'

The officer yells again: 'Where is he?' to which Ait Boulahcen replies with the same answer: 'He's not my boyfriend!'

The explosion was heard seconds later. The audio emerged as family and acquaintances gave extraordinary accounts of a young woman who was known for her love of alcohol and cigarettes rather than devotion to Islam.

Three people, including Ait Boulahcen, were killed in the Saint Denis siege and eight suspected terrorists were arrested

Her brother Youssouf Ait Boulahcen said that she had had no interest in religion, never read the Koran and had only started wearing a Muslim veil a month ago.

A photograph has also emerged of Ait Boulahcen posing for a selfie in the bath. Her face was covered in heavy make-up and she wore nothing but jewellery.

Ait Boulahcen was killed along with her cousin Abaaoud during a ferocious six-hour fire fight with police.

She detonated a suicide vest after screaming 'help me, help me!' at officers, while 27-year-old Abaaoud was first hit in the head by a police sniper and then blown to pieces by numerous grenades.

Abaaoud, who is suspected of masterminding the Paris terror attacks which killed 130 people, was a committed jihadist who had been in Syria and was well-known to the European authorities.

However, his cousin appears to have only become radicalised in the last month after abandoning her former lifestyle to join ISIS.

In a statement, her brother Youssouf, said that he had never even see her open the Koran.

'She was living in her own world. She was not interested in studying her religion', he said. 'She was permanently on her phone, looking at Facebook or WhatsApp.

'I told her to stop all of this but she would not listen, she ignored my numerous attempts to give her advice telling me I was not her dad, or her husband, and so I should leave her alone.'

The architect of the Paris massacres, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was also killed after first being hit in the head by a sniper and then blown to pieces by numerous grenades during the raid in the suburb of Saint-Denis

Ait Boulahcen's family arrived in France in 1973 and settled in Paris, where she was born in 1989 in Clichy-la-Garenne, a suburb close to Wednesday's gun siege.

Her parents had separated when she was young and she had been brought up by foster families. Her mother, whose first name is not known, lives in a tower block in Aulnay Sous Bois, a suburb 20 minutes outside of Paris.

It is understood that although Ait Boulahcen visited often, she did not live there permanently.

Friends said she remained 'close' to her father and would regularly visit his home in Creutzwald, Moselle. She lived with him for two months.

Local resident Amin Abou, 26, described her as 'a party animal who loved clubbing'.

'I would see her in this club in Germany which is only ten minutes away but where we go out because its much cheaper for alcohol.

'She came here two or three years ago for two months. She didn't work or go to university. I don't think she even finished school.

'She loved partying and going to clubs. She drank alcohol and smoked and went around with lots of different guys. She had a bad reputation. She had lots of boyfriends, but nothing serious.'

Another friend Mattius Jacques, 24, said: 'She was normal she wore Western clothes, she never wore hijab. She didn't go to mosque or pray. She never spoke about news or Palestine or anything.

He fled Belgium for Syria and became an ISIS executioner, recruiter and one of the world's most wanted men

'She wasn't religious at all. She was like you and me, she went out, she lived a free life, always out partying.

'Her dad didn't mind, he's cool. He plays guitar. Her father worked in car factory but is now retired. He goes to mosque often but he's not strict. He goes on holiday to Morocco often because he lives alone.'

Friends also described her as a fun-loving party girl who liked to drink alcohol and was nicknamed 'the cowgirl' due to her love of wearing big cowboy hats.

Neighbours at the building where Ait Boulahcen's family live, in a run-down suburb of Paris, said that she had been there three weeks ago.

Diesel (not pictured), a seven-year-old Belgian shepherd, was killed in the line of duty and a member of the SWAT team that stormed an apartment block in the Parisian suburb of St-Denis on Wednesday morning as police hunted for the suspected mastermind behind Friday's terror attack in the French capital

French Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve greets police officers during the assault on the apartment hideout of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Mr Cazeneuve says he is baffled as to how Abaaoud came back to France, saying other intelligence agencies had shared no information