abaaoud at this hour is still to be at large. [ explosion ] [ gunfire ] >> a woman blows herself up and a man a shot dead as french police raid an apartment in a hunt for the paris attackers. ♪ hello, i'm lauren taylor, this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the belgian town at the ter of the paris attack ib investigation shows solidarity. and isil claimed this device brought down a rush an airliner. and a giant of the game, rugby's first global superstar

dies at age 40. ♪ hello, two people have died and seven are under arrest after fwren. police raided an apartment seeking those behind friday's paris attacks. hundreds of specialist officers and soldiers descended on the suberb. they, looking for the mastermind abdelhamid abaaoud accuseded of leading the attacks in paris. they con fronted gunfire, explosionives, and a woman wearing a suicide vest. andrew simmons reports. >> reporter: once again, gunfire and later on explosions in paris. saint-denis, looks and sounds like a war zone. [ gunfire ] [ explosion ]

>> reporter: it's a raid by security forces under the cover of darkness, and they met fierce resistance. for more than three hours as gunn fire continued. >> translator: since 4:00 this morning, french special forces police have carried out an operation to neutralize terrorists. seven people were arrested, two people have died. >> reporter: police say one of the dead suspects was a woman wearing a suicide vest who blue herself up. for hours now this paris suburb has been in deep shock when gunfire and explosions rattled windows, waking people up in the early hours, everyone has thought this was another attack, but no. it was a prolonged fire fight between a heavily armed group, holed up in an apartment down at the bottom of this street and the police. the police operation is believed to have been in search of one of

the main suspects, abdelhamid abaaoud. he is believed to be in his late 20s. french authorities have maintained that he is likely to have been responsible for organizing the attacks, and initially they said he was in syria. it's known he had travelled there to fight alongside isil. >> translator: we have done a lot of work, which has allowed us to obtain through telephone surveillance and witness statements evidence that would allow us to think that abdelhamid abaaoud may be in the conspirator's apartment. >> reporter: this man spoke of how his apartment had been taken over. >> translator: i found out that it's at my house, and the people are holed up at my flat. i didn't know they were terrorists. someone asked me to put two people up for three days, and i did them favor. it's normal. >> reporter: not surprisingly, people in this district were frightened and confused.

>> translator: so i opened the windows and i saw a policeman who was running in the street behind people, and shouting, don't move, don't move, close the windows. we shut the windows. we stayed home, but ever 15 minutes, we could hear loud booms. we heard them three, four, five times. >> reporter: police say arrests have been made. this may have been a break through, but questions persist about the quality of intelligence in the run-up to last week's attacks. andrew simmons, al jazeera, saint-denis, in paris. let's look at more detail at how events unfolded. at 4:25 the police team moved in on the apartment building. it's near the national stadium which was attacked on friday. a woman wearing a suicide vest blue herself up outside of the premise. she is a cousin of the main

suspect. another man was killed by police. police continued to exchange gunfire with those inside, several officers were injured. by 9:00 am police confirmed they arrested three people in the apartment. another man and woman were detained nearby. the operation ended with the arrests of two more men hiding in the apartment. bring you some live pictures now coming in from saint-denis. we think this is one of the apartments that was raided. and that's the forensic team inside there looking for clues. it appears that they had -- were heavily armed in there, but also has you heard just there, there was a suicide vest in amongst that. let's bring in mohammed jamjoom who is live in saint-denis. i gather you have some latest developments there as well? >> reporter: yeah, we have heard from french police that there is a search now ongoing for a vehicle that left this neighborhood, that they believe

is owned by one of the main suspects behind the paris attacks last friday. now earlier in the day it was -- it was believed by french officials, by the s.w.a.t. teams that raided this area, that perhaps, abdelhamid abaaoud was in this area, and that is one of the primary reasons that has been reported that these raids happened today. another development we're hearing is that perhaps this was a separate cell that was preparing allegedly another attack, french mediasying perhaps the cell that was -- that was raided today was planning to attack the business direct of paris. so a lot of new developments that we're still combing through, and it really goes to show just how complex this raid was today, the ongoing operations are, and as you mentioned, forensic teams, even

though the atmosphere here is a lot more relaxed, there are still forensic teams on the scene searching various apartments. parts of the area still cordoned off, because there are investigators still gathering clues. >> as you speak we're seeing pictures inside the apartment or shots from the outside, but with the figures visible inside, it does seem they raided that apartment based on surveillance, but they also apparently had found a mobile phone that might have led them to this address? >> reporter: this is one of the developments we have heard in the last few hours. there are several reasons that we have heard thus far. not all of them confirmed by officials in france as to why exactly this area was targeted. that is one of the reports that has emerged, that there was a

cell phone. also we have been told that the woman who -- who detonated herself, who was wearing a suicide vest earlier in the day, that she perhaps was the cousin of one of the other suspects in the paris attacks. so a lot of new information to sift through, and it really goes to show how difficult of a job this will be for intelligence agencies, and other officials investigating at the scene, and it goes to show how difficult it will be for the president who has said today and other days that he believes the state of emergency should be extended to at least three months. we're expecting that parliament will debate that measure and vote on it as early as tomorrow. also, though, we are expecting more clarity on all of these different lines that have emerged. within the next hour there should be, there should be a press conference by the prosecutor general here in france, updating the media and citizens, as to the latest. who was targeted, why they were

targeted, if in fact it was a separate cell, planning separate attacks, and who is being interrogated. we are still hearing seven arrested, two killed, but we are expecting more details within the next hour. lauren. >> okay. mohammed jamjoom with the very latest there live in saint-denis. thank you. belgiums have been gathering to hold a vigil for the victims of the paris attacks. candles have been lit. the area has been in the spotlight following the attacks. france has carried out a third night of air strikes against isil in syria in retaliation for the attacks. the defense ministry sent ten fighter jets from bases in jordan and the united arab emirates. france said they would continue air raids in coming days.

france's only aircraft carrier has left the country to join anti-isil operations. the carry left for the eastern mediterranean on wednesday. the vessel carries 20 aircraft, allowing france to increase the number of raids it is staging against isil targets. ♪ the islamic state of iraq and the levant has published an image of the improvised bomb it says brought down a russian airliner. it says it smuggled the explosive on to the plane after discovering lax security at the airport. the group claims its original target was a western airliner, but tactics were changed after russia began air strikes in syria. boko haram is being blamed for a bombing in northeast nigeria that has killed 32 people. the attack happened days after the president visited and

declared the group close to defeat. the red cross says a further 80 people were rounded when an explosioner to through a crowded fruit and vegetable market late on tuesday afternoon. the president tweeted vowing that the [ inaudible ] would never win. >> reporter: the suicide bomber started sharing money, or dishing out money to people, mostly women and children, who were gathered at that market area, and then when -- when a huge crowd gathered he detonated the device, killing those people and injuring a lot of people. just a few kilometers from where another suicide bomber attacked a mosque, last month, killing dozens of people in the state capitol. the military has actually driven boko haram from so many areas. they have claimed victory after victory on boko haram, but what

the military operation has failed to do so far is stop the fate of bombings happening across the country. we have seen over the last fy or six months since the president came to power, hundreds of people have been killed by boko haram. and the vast majority are killed by suicide bombers and ied's planted at locations such as markets, mosques, churches, and other places where people patronize in large numbers. you are watching al jazeera, coming up, a demonstration turns violent in greece, we'll tell you why farmers there are so angry. why shea butter is scarring nigeria's economy. ♪

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hello again a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. two people are dead and seven have been detained following predawn raids in paris. hundreds of police were targeting the men believed to have responsible for the attacks. isil has published an image it says is the improvised bomb that brought down the russian airliner. for more on our top story, the raids in paris, i'm joined by a research fellow. since we last spoke there has emerged reports from one of the

main state broadcasters, that possibly this raid was on a group which was the fourth cell and that they might have been targeting the airport. how big -- clearly what they have done already is already an enormous event, but how important is this? >> it is crucial. these reports are as of yet unconfirmed whether they were planning attacks. but they were certainly aware that something was in the pipeline, something that could happen, hence all of the measures that were taken, and declaring a state of emergency, which allows the police to proceed to what is known as administrative searches. i.e., they don't need to get a war rent from a judge, and they can immediately search any house which is deemed suspicious or

could be linked to these cells. and in the last two days, they proceeded to 414 searches, administrative searches, and arrested 68 people, which might have been one of the reasons why they were able to focus on that group. >> yeah, and tell us a bit -- let's have some live pictures from the scene where -- this is in saint-denis, where they are taking pictures from the outside, but forensic teams working through that building, where those raids took place. and it sounded like a long-running battle. talk us through some of the measures that they have there within the state of emergency that will give them the power to tackle a situation like this. >> the main weapon is the ability to search without legal backing. that's what it is. so if they have inklings, leads

and so on, they can immediately go into action. there are other things -- there's other measures, which are part of the state of emergency, such as preventing meetings from taking place, closing down places, buildings, et cetera, imposing curfews, but the most important weapon is the ability to proceed to administrative search. >> how much support is there from french colleagues, and talking to people there, how much support is there for continuing the operations in places like syria and iraq? what is the feeling? >> i think there's unanimous support to continue acting against fighting -- the war against isil. there is a level of dissension, the fact that many [ inaudible ] want to up the steaks.

they want boots on the ground. but the french army is already very much stretched. >> we have had john kerry saying we're much closer now to a resolution -- certainly a ceasefire. how does the political situation or events in syria play into what is happening at the moment? and how quickly do you think that is going to be resolved as john kerry suggests? >> on the international politics front already the most important shift as been the [ inaudible ] between hollande and putin in the last few days, and the fact that putin admitted that the airline was actually the result of a bomb, which they denied at first, so they admitted that now they are in the same boat as the french, and they both want to wage this war against isil, and we have seen the last couple of

days that putin has asked the russian navy to cooperate with the french and they are [ inaudible ] and we have next week a big meeting hollande will meet -- will meet with obama and will meet vladimir putin, and we see that now the coalition, which before was not -- before on one side the supporter of syria, i.e., iran, and russia, and on the other hand you had america, and france and the u.k. and saudis and qataris, and this time the unity, which had lead john kerry to state yesterday that therefore that it could come up with a plan to once fight against isil as progress enough to -- to prepare a kind of settlement for after the conflict, already for next year

between all the participants, before the very conflicting position. it will not be easy, but they will try to find a compromise relating on one hand on one of the aspects it will be the fate of bashar al-assad. >> okay. thank you very much indeed. >> pleasure. the greek prime minister is in turkey for talks with his turkish counterpart. the growing refugee crisis is at the top of the agenda. he says greece and turkey need to do more to fight human smuggling rings. more than 600,000 people have reached greece sew far this year. turkey is home to 2.2 millioning refugees, mostly syrians. and hundreds continue to attempt the dangerous boat journey to greece despite the approaching winter. >> reporter: along the coast, november is so far unseasonably mild and calm. but for these refugees heading

to the greek island of lesvos, the journey is still perilous. already this morning, 14 people have drowned in the waters here, seven of them, children. most of the people in this group are from afghanistan, a few are pakistani. >> i'm not interested in going to europe. europe is not better for me. afghanistan is better for me, but they take afghanistan from me. they do not let me to be here in afghanistan. >> reporter: most are escaping from conflict, some are running from the poverty. >> in pakistan we can't work freely, because of you and americans. okay? >> go to europe. people dream. europe is better. >> reporter: threats from the coast guard are a brief deterrent. but there are thousands of kilometers of coastline to

patrol. some will always get through. it would take a major naval operation to stop the flow of rubber dingies that carried more than 200,000 refugees in october alone according to u.n. estimates. most are syrians. these were caught hiding in the bushes waiting for their smuggler. >> syria is my -- my home, yes, my land, my home. i love syria. >> reporter: he says what everyone we talked to says, they would rather been in their home country than crossing the sea, including this man and his 16 day old son. the local security forces tell us they are involved in this endless cycle. if they intercept refugees they register them and then they are bussed further inland, and if they are syrian, they will then be set free, and many will come

back here and try again to cross to greece. all along the coastline you see the human capital of syria and other unstable places draining away. most of the people we met were educated and eager to contribute to society. the resolve they have called on to make this journey will be needed again when they get to europe. bernard smith, al jazeera, on turkey's aegean coast. tear gas has been used in kosovo's capitol in an attempt to disperse crowds. unrest with serbia entered a second day. the unrest comes after opposition lawmakers against an e.u.-brokers akorbed with serbia, fired tear gas in kosovo's parliament on tuesday. there have been angry sdeens in athens where police fired

tear gas at protesters against planned tax increases. they threw stones and oranges at riot police. four people have been killed in bush fires in western australia, three german backpackers died in their car. another man understood to be a local farmer was also found dead in his vehicle. nigeria has nearly half of the world's trees that produce shea butter. but because they can't refine it, producers say they are not making enough money from the product. >> reporter: women who depend on these trees say they should make more money from the nuts that call from them. the nuts produce natural oil which is made into is shea butter. it's also an ingredient in many

skin-care products. the women process the butter mainly by hand. it is sold for $1.5 a liter. the price from the shop is at least $30. >> it's the middleman. those are our challengest. the middlemen try from us at the cheapest price, and take it and sell it at the highest price. >> reporter: one industry says the trade will be worth $20 billion by 2020. the shea butter being produced here has been sold to a nigerian who plans to export it to the united states. every year they lose $1.7 billion in potential profits from the export of shea butter. the government agency says local producers don't have the skills to meet import rules in the most profitable markets, the u.s. and

europe. >> quality is one of the main challenges we do have. we looked at it. it's training, you know, the growers first, you know, train through best practices. >> reporter: this trade fair was organized to showcase the best of shea butter product. industry leaders say quality is being improved. one of the problems is high levels of naturally occurring acids. >> we have processing centers, and we're putting quality in place at those centers. we're working on putting like a mini lab in each center, so we're able to process and check the quality of the butter before it is being exported. >> reporter: the shea butter producers are hoping they will have more money in their p pro -- pockets. but industry leaders say they

need more than $2 billion to realize the full potential. he has been described as rugby's first global superstar, tributes have been pouring in for the legend who has died at the age of 40 after battling kidney disease for years. >> reporter: he was one of rugby's greatest, he became the youngest ever all black in 1994 when he made his debut at the age of 19. >> there is no one like him. >> reporter: it was the world cup the following year that he became a star. he scored seven tries in the tournament. his performance against england being one of the most iconic moments in the sport's history. ultimately the all blacks would lose to the hosts south africa. a year later a rare kidney

disease saw him take time off of the sport. he managed to play at the 1999 world cup which saw new zealand knocked out in the semifinals? he scored eight tries in england. >> he will be remembered for his sportsmanship. he is -- would end his career he tried to return to the sport in 2005, the year after a kidney transplant, the second transplant was needed in 2011, and he was awaiting third before his death. at the age of 40, he had spent the last months of his life watching his country win the world cup in england. he may not have achieved that feet himself, but he'll be

remembered as the sport's first global superstar. richard martin, al jazeera. plenty more stories for you any time on our website, the address for that is aljazeera.com. and you can also watch us by clicking on the watch-now icon. aljazeera.com. ♪ [ gunfire ] >> gunfire erupting in this paris suberb. the police force raiding the app apartment of the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks. at least two of those suspects are now dead. more under arrest. french investiga