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One of the terrorist gunmen who brought terror to Paris is believed to have called a number in Birmingham several times before launching the sickening attack.

Counter terror police are investigating information that one of the nine attackers rang the number “on several occasions” before the assault that killed 130 people.

It is also understood that one of the attackers may have further links to the UK, having previously travelled to addresses in London and Kent.

A source told the Birmingham Mail’s sister Daily Mirror newspaper: “These calls to Birmingham were made shortly before the Paris attacks.

“If the French police know who made the call to Birmingham, it is likely that they also know who received those calls.

“British police are urgently investigating whether anyone in the UK was involved in the Paris attacks. They also want to determine whether there is a linked terror cell based here.”

The news comes as Britain begins bombing ISIL targets in Syria in response to the Paris murders, and raises the fear that a terror cell is in the UK planning a similar attack.

(Image: Nick Ansell/PA Wire)

Britain’s threat status is set at ‘severe’ – the second gravest level – meaning that a terror attack is “highly likely” and police this week staged a mock exercise in London to demonstrate how they plan to respond to a Paris-style massacre.

Specialist Scotland Yard officers are in Paris assisting their French counterparts deal with the aftermath of the bloodiest attack in the country since the end of World War 2.

Nine terrorists took part in three simultaneous attacks across the French capital on the night of November 13 and two accomplices remain on the run. Suspected mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in a police raid in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis five days after the attacks.

Dozens of others in France and Belgium have been arrested in the wake of the Paris shootings and attention has turned to links with possible British jihadis.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Post the Paris attacks, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command have been working closely with colleagues in France. It would be inappropriate to comment on the French investigation.

“A team of specialist counter terrorism officers, including family liaison officers, from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) have been deployed. We are not discussing the number of officers deployed for operational reasons.”

There have been no reported arrests in the UK directly linked to the Paris attacks. It is believed they were planned in Brussels and involved French and Belgian terrorists, along with fighters who are believed to have posed as refugees from Syria.

The terrorists exchanged messages with prominent British jihadi Aine Davis and other members of a Turkish ISIS cell based in Istanbul before the attacks.

But Davis, a close friend of serial killer Mohammed Emwazi, was arrested during raids in the city days before the Paris attacks. The Muslim convert and former drug dealer from West London was inspired by Al Qaeda preacher Anwar Al Awlaki and cleric Abu Hamza, and was responsible for guarding foreign prisoners in Syria.

Last year his wife Amal El Wahabi was jailed for 28 months for asking a friend to smuggle 20,000 euros to Syria hidden in her underwear.

A number of terror suspects in Birmingham have been arrested for links to ISIL in Syria, including two people earlier this month.

Birmingham terror recruiter Junaid Hussain died in a US drone strike in August leaving his widow, convert Sally Jones, threatening to become a suicide bomber.

And a Birmingham man was among 16 arrested on the eve of the Paris attacks on the request of the Italian authorities over an alleged international plot to kill diplomats.

*Birmingham councillors' too busy' to attend vital counter-terror meetings