going back to jacky row

land. you were talking to us about this man. he is supposed to be the alleged mastermind, salah abdeslam. he could be holidayed up here because he was-- the picture was that he was in syria. >> reporter: yes, indeed. he is or was, we don't know whether he has been killed or not, a 20-year-old who understood to have been radicalised around 2010. he was arrested in belgium along with salah abdeslam who was named two days ago as a suspect. while we have the photograph and name of salah abdeslam was circulated saying that he was wanted in connection with the raids and described as extremely

dangerous, the the other name was only mentioned as having been in an organising or coordinating capacity. he is believed to be in syria to have been pulling the strings from apar. it was only late on tuesday that police actually mentioned that there was a nine attacker. they didn't want to aalert abdel hamid abaaoud to the fact that they understood him to be on french territory. it's understood that, as i said, two attackers or two suspected attackers have been killed in that apartment. two have been arrested. we don't have any ids on the people who have been killed and we don't know whether salah abdeslam and abdel hamid abaaoud themselves were actually together and hiding in this apartment, but certainly there were a number of people in there because when the police first

arrived, there was gun fire coming out of the apartment and there have been exchange of begun fire. the latest was a series of very loud debt nations which we cannot be sure, but they were probably stun grenades have been used possibly to try to end this siege, bearing in mind one or two more suspects could be inside the apartment block as we're looking at the live pictures coming from this neighborhood is the north of the capital in the suburbs, talk us through this neighborhood. what are we looking at on our screens? >> reporter: sandone is one of the - anyone who follows french news have heard of this suburb, but it is a suburb in some - the

suburbs of paris in the north are areas of high unemployment, high youth unemployment in particular, large immigrant communities here, very disadvantaged neighbors. -- neighborhoods. the attacks on friday, there have been a number significant pieces of evidence that have been found in the various suburbs of paris. the second car believed to have been used in the attack was found in an eastern suburb called montroy. we thought they had found a safe house in the north which police suspected in bobonee which they thought it was used in the events running up to the events on friday. another of these suburbs where, in fact, we seem to be seeing they're at the search now for the suspects.

as i said, an eighth and a ninth suspects are still at large, police said. we know that two people have been killed in this raid. we don't know if it's suspects or others, but there have also been a couple of arrests as well and three police officers injured. at the moment the situation is still ongoing. the raid is still ongoing, although everything has been quiet and we have heard debt nations 1 ah minutes ago which appear to be anti terror police possibly trying to flush out-- 15 minutes ago - trying to surprise the remaining people hiding in that apartment possibly it is quite extraordinary looking at these scenes unfolding on our screens. just the sheer pace of the police investigations. we had these attacks on friday night. literally, a couple of days later we're now at a situation where they possibly could have tracked down all the people they've been looking for.

>> reporter: well, possibly. certainly the investigation has moved quickly. certainly there has been a lot of coordination as the belgian police intelligence services because at a very early stage it was established that there was an important belgium connection there. that being three vehicles that were used in the various operations, the attacks on friday night, three vehicles, all of which had belgian licence plates, had been rented by french nationals in belgium. so we saw raids in poor suburbs, mombeek was the bruise els suburb that we saw raids on monday. we understand those arrested from there had been released, but certainly these - particular

l particularly salah abdeslam salah abdeslam was amongst the attackers died on friday night, but salah abdeslam named is a wanted person throughout europe. he was the eighth suspect and a ninth suspect is also being searched for. we're not sure if they're the people in the apartment belong. certainly abdel hamid abaaoud was named as being involved in the attacks. in salah abdeslam, for having rented the vehicles used in the attacks. in the case of abdel hamid abaaoud suspected as being of mastermind of these attacks. it appears to actually have been far closer to the operation on

friday thank you for that. jacky we will no doubt come back to you in a few minutes. crossing over to tristan redmon. a very fast moving, very fast-paced situation unfolding on our screens. let me just remind the viewers what they're seeing. these are live pictures from the northern suburbs in paris. two unidentified people have been killed in an operation which is still underway by the police. these are the live pictures. it is thought the police are raiding an apartment where several suggestion expects are holed up. one of the main suspects is believed to be in this apartment, which is what you're seeing on your screen. we understand two people have been killed, three suspects detained, and three police have

also been injured. further to that, we're hearing that two people are still holed up inside the building. when we spoke to jacky row land a few minutes ago, jacky heard a number of loud explosions during those raids perhaps indicating that they were using stun grenades to get in to bust the siege. now, let's goefr over to tristan. tell us what you're seeing and hearing there now. -- let go over to. >> reporter: things have quitened down in the last 15 minutes since we last heard those explosions that jacky told you about. i'm hearing reports now that the french media, that two companies of soldiers, that's around 100 men have been deployed here to support the police operation. i haven't seen these soldiers yet with my own eyes, but that's

what we're hearing. if you had told a french person one year ago that there would be soldiers deployed on these streets, they would probably be quite surprised, but these days this news is not surprising. we've seen french soldiers deployed all over france since january in all sorts of capacities. things have gone quiet now. we haven't heard any more explosions or shots fired. the fact that there were no shots fired after the explosion suggests that maybe there wasn't a raid. we thought that we would have expected to hear shots after those explosions, if there was some kind of raid, but we couldn't see anyone going - any of the swot teams going into the building. they were standing outside in the street, so it's impossible to know what was actually happening stay with us, won't you, because we're going to come back

to - we're going to give our viewers some sort of chronology to what is unfolding on the screens. earlier french police wanted to help identifying a man they believed to be one of the three suicide bombers in the stade de france attack. now, he was apparently fringe printed in greece and a syrian passport was found here his body, but the passport could have been a fake. he is one of nine people at the center of this investigation. most of them died on the night of the attacks last friday, but french officials now are looking for two main suspects, and they have been named at 27-year-old abdel hamid abaaoud as the mastermind of the attack and an international arrest has been

earned for salah abdeslam. his brother has been calling on him to give himself up. going back to the live pictures now that we're seeing coming from the suburb where it's thought the two suspects are holed up. let's go back to jacky rowlands. she is not far from here, just a few hundred yards from this apartment. just bringing us up-to-date for our viewers who have just joined us on what you've seen an heard since you there. >> reporter: the operation began well before dawn. it was dark here. it started with about a hundred gunshots. people who were here said there was a lot of explosions, a lot of firing to begin with when it all kicked off at about 4.30 in the morning local time.

there was police along with anti terrorist police and swot team that surrounded an apartment block in sandonee not far from the town hall, and they were - the shooting came from outside the apartment block and also also responded as well. so there was an intention exchange of fire for about ten minutes. that was around 4.30 in the morning local time. when i arrived about an hour or so later, there was a small amount of begun fire to begin-- gun fire to begin with. at that stage we were aware that the police had put up the security cordons, all neighbouring buildings had been advised to make a run for it and we saw panicked people confused running down the streets and taking shelter in the town hall.

the mayor of the district asked people to stay at home, stay in doors and not cross the police line. about half an hour, 45 minutes ago, there was suddenly another intense scene that we heard a series of explosions, a series of debt nations. we weren't sure what they were or whether they were explosions coming from inside the apartment or whether they were grenades or something being used by the police on the outside to try to break the siege because at the time of speaking, it has been confirmed that two suspects have been killed in the raid, two arrested and three police officers injured. we're now hearing from eyewitnesses that apparently there was a woman in the apartment wearing an invest full of explosives which she detonated. it's not clear, but we're wondering whether they were the series of explosions that we

heard. the situation is that it has now dawned. we do have day break here. approximately 200/300 metres down the road i can see in the distance that there's still a row of swot troops standing in a row. we can see they are still standing outside the apartment block. that's where we're up to we're going to show our viewers just a google map of where sandonee is in the northern suburbs. there it is. we're just zooming in on this google map to show our viewers where it is. you were describing for us earlier that this area is fairly near the stade de france which we're now seeing in the center of our screen. >> reporter: yes. the stade de france is the major

football state um and was the scene of one of the attacks, one of the first attacks on friday night, attackers use iing - who detonated themselves. this is not far from the north of paris. the most significant thing is that it is also very densely populated, a poor disadvantaged neighborhood with a large immigrant community and a high level of unemployed youth here. the french authorities have been concerned about radicalization here. young people who have to work, who are often stopped and searched by police, who feel that they're picked upon with no opportunity or prospects. they're having concerns with these people, these young people that could be prey to

radicalization. they could be receptive to the kind of measures placed on social media from radical groups. it has been significant as well that a number of the leads in this investigation have come from the suburbs. for example, the eastern suburb of montreaux was where they found a black seat, a belgium number plate. also another suburb in the north, that was where police announceed that they had found a safe house which they said they believed to be used by the attackers in time running up to the attack. obviously, we're looking, i think, at certainly this at this stage of the operation because

it is involving. in the last 45 minutes they mentioned a series of very loud debt nations. it was unclear what they were. there were reports from eyewitnesses that a woman a woman was wearing a vest. although they could have been some kind of grenades thrown by the police. i've witnessed other situations like this in france three years ago when police were rooting out an attacker who killed french service man and carried out attacks at a jewish school. when that came to an end, that was a similar scenario, the swot team surrounding the house on that occasion. the siege went on for well over 24 hours, but when it did finally end, it ended with the

use of the stun grenades that the police threw out the winds. certainly in the past, the police have used cameras. they've used remote cameras that they have been able to infiltrate into the building. we're not sure whether those have been used on this occasion it is significant here, isn't it, because one of the main suspects, it's thought, is abdel hamid abaaoud. he could be holed up in the apartment. it was thought he was in syria, but he could actually be closer and be here in paris. >> reporter: yes. when the police first started the - the intelligence services first started releasing mains in the first 24 hours of after the attack, abdel hamid abaaoud was mentioned but not as believed to be an attacker. he was believed to be on the run in france. he was being described as the

mastermind, if i can use that expression, the person who planned, organised, coordinated the attack we're going to have to leave it there for a second. i need to remind our viewers what we know so far in froms of chronology. there have been a series of explosions on an apartment building. there are reports a woman detonated a suicide bomb during the raid. two people have been killed. three police officers have been injured in the operation. residents have been ordered in doors as the operation is still ongoing. two people are still holed up inside theed building. my colleague here-- the

building. my colleague will be taking us through the rest of the developing situation that is ongoing in the northern suburbs of paris as the police try to take on these suspects. >> i ended up screwed them over rewed them over

you're watching al jazeera. we've got breaking news out of france. a major operation underway this hour in the northern paris suburb of st dennis. there are coming from attacks from friday when at least 129 people died. this is what we know so far. at least two people have been killed and three police officers have been injured in the police raid going on, not just police, special forces also