PARIS: Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Thursday that France was at risk of a chemical or biological weapons attack, as lawmakers voted to extend a state of emergency imposed after the Paris carnage.
The fate of the suspected mastermind of Friday´s attacks was still uncertain after a huge police raid in a northern district of the French capital on Wednesday that left at least two people dead.
Investigators have yet to confirm whether the body of Abdelhamid Abaaoud was among the rubble of a shattered apartment block after police rained fire and grenades on the building in a seven-hour siege.
Prosecutor Francois Molins said the raid in Saint-Denis had stopped a “new team of terrorists” who were ready to launch another attack in a city still mourning 129 dead, and they believed that senior Islamic State operative Abaaoud was at the building.
At least two other people were killed in the ferocious shootout, including what is thought to be a woman who detonated an explosives vest.
Valls warned of the dangers still faced by France as he opened a parliamentary debate that later saw lawmakers extend an extraordinary package of security measures for three months.
