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The mastermind behind the Paris terror attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in the St Denis siege according to reports.

Senior intelligence sources have told the Washington Post that Abaaoud, 29, is dead.

The confirmation was made after forensic experts went through the wreckage of a flat which was raided this morning in the St Denis area of Paris involving more than 100 policemen, intelligence sources told the newspaper.

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Terror suspects in the flat fired 5000 rounds during the operation during which one person, a woman, blew herself up. She has not yet been identified.

Seven people, including a woman, were arrested by French cops - and two people were killed, the Paris prosecutor revealed this afternoon.

The raid was carried out after French authorities received a tip on Monday that Abaaoud was in France, which police ‘thoroughly checked’ to see if it stood up.

(Image: Getty)

Molins said that investigators could not identify three men detained in the raid on an apartment in St. Denis north of Paris.

Overall eight people were arrested at the apartment or nearby, he added.

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Fugitive terror suspect Salah Abdeslan is NOT among those arrested.

Abaaoud was believed to have been in Syria and became one of the world's most wanted men following the attacks on Friday

Much about Abaaoud’s path to armed Islamic radicalism remains mysterious.

In the words of Koen Geens, the Belgian justice minister, he changed from a student at an upscale Brussels school into “an extremely professional commando”, one seemingly able to slip across borders at will.

He is someone who openly mocked the inability of Western law enforcement agencies to catch him.

It has been revealed that suspects who were seized after the shoot out in St Denis were planning to launch a second devastating atrocity in Paris , just days after the atttacks which killed 129.

Police raiding a safe house in St Denis discovered the group were plotting to bomb the city's La Defense business district on Thursday, it has been reported.

The attack would have been carried out in the Quatre Temps shopping centre and the main square of the district in the western edge of the city.

(Image: Getty)

The district of high rise tower blocks is home to some of the country's biggest companies such as the oil giant Total and the main trading floor of the Societe Generale bank.

This afternoon the Paris prosecutor, Francois Molins, said: “The assault carried out last night - a new terrorist cell was neutralised.”

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“Seeing their weapons, their organisation, this group could have acted.”

He said cops found three assault rifles and ammo.

Mr Molins said a VW Polo, a Seat and a Renault Cleo arrived “practically in a convoy from Belgium”.

The Polo was seen outside the Bataclan and was used by three terrorist commandos.

The Seat was used by three men who shot at bars and restaurants.

Mr Mollins said a total war arsenal” of weapons was used in the attacks.

In Bataclan 100s of ammo cartridges were seized and at the Stade de France police found detonators and bolts from the bombs, which created deadly flying shrapnel to increase the carnage.