blasts that sounded like concussion grenades or stun grenade, the kinds of things police use when they raid buildings to stun suspects. that could have marked the end of this raid. we do understand from the french justice ministry that the raid is over. the paris prosecutor's office tells us that five people have been arrested. three suspects inside that apartment that they were targeting and two people, a man and a woman, near that. now, the big question this morning is whether the mastermind, the organizer of those friday attacks that left 129 people dead was inside that apartment. his name is abdelhamid abaaoud. he was believed to be in syria. he is a relatively senior isis leader, quite prominent. he's been featured in many of their propaganda to recruit others to the isis cause and in the more gruesome barbaric execution isis video, as well. so the french officials this morning said that he was the

target of this raid but right now we don't know whether he was e of those arrested. >> all right, our abc alex marquardt standing by there in saint-denis and it's a fairly big suburb north of paris and our matt gutman is in another part of saint-denis live for us. >> he arrived shortly after the raid started. matt, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, good morning, reena. we are at one of the police perimeters. we keep trying to get closer and closer to where this siege happened and may still be happening because ten minutes ago we heard one loud bang, that's after the series of ten bangs that we heard earlier this morning. it sounded again like a concussion grenade. a single explosion again nobody is saying what happened or source of that concussion grenade but the police here continue to be very, very edgy. i'm right in the blockade and they keep pushing us back. they have their hands on their gun, weapons drawn pointing at

about 20 feet of them sore or so so something is still going on here. this is very much an active situation even though that we are hearing that i alum of suspects have been detained and, of course, that woman who debt naded her suicide vest was killed. target of that raid, of course, is abdelhamid abaaoud, the number one most wanted person for france, the person responsible for those heinous attacks at the "charlie hebdo" in january and, of course, the attacks on friday. big black eye are to french intelligence the fact that they believe he was in syria when, in fact, he was right under their noses 15 minutes north of the heart of this great city, possibly harboring -- being harbored by someone who lived in this very modest working class community, people are out here by the hundreds, work is closed. they can't travel anywhere. they can't go anywhere. thele schools have been ordered to be closed. 12 of them.

here, a ghost town except for gawkers who are trying to get a glimpse of the police action. paris continues to be on edge and it's hard to overestimate how. this has affected this country and you see it in the eyes of police officers that we are encountering. they are extremely serious and the buildup of forces right here in this northern suburb just about a mile away from the stade de france where the through suicide bombers blew themselves off kicking off the heinous attacks friday night. you can see it in the eyes of the police officers in this massive buildup of forces. we were on scene very, very early right after the initial crackle of gunfire, automatic weapons when we saw first the police roll in then we saw the counterterrorism force, men armed to the teeth wearing ski masks, running towards the scene. saw army trucks piled with soldiers spilling out into the street, taking up positions and

officers is being pointed away, not can their hand but with a weapon. this is still very serious and all the people that are still on the other side of the perimeter are caught when they go out of their homes, out of their apartments we've seen them have their hands on their head, trying to be the least threatening as possible because, again, officers aren't sure exactly of who might be involved in these terrorist actions and who exactly might be a threat to them. so significant concern here still, it seems like the bulk of the operation is over, maybe there's some mop-up action going on still, but very, very tense here on the streets of paris. >> and that we know as early as tuesday, both french and american intelligence believed that the mastermind behind this attack was inside syria. we also know inside of france there were at least 168 police raids. have police garnered any new clues and is there a sense inside of france that french intelligence missed some

opportunities on this. >> reporter: it's hard to tell what -- again, you just mentioned there have been an enormous number of raids. 128. one night, and 150 another night and one wonders the extent to which the french special operations forces had prepared for these and we know a number of arrests have been made throughout the past couple of days and don't know the significance but something clearly led police to people who were bound to do harm. it is confirmed that one woman did debt fate her explosive device. she was wearing a suicide vest which means there may have been a significant amount of numbers stored in the house, in this apartment block where the suspects were hiding out. it's a very tough position for france to be in and i think one of the things we have to highlight as americans who are not used to being in europe is that europeans don't need passports or i.d.s to travel.

that is why it seems that these terrorists have been so ubiquitous throughout europe and had a major square overnight in germany, hanover, the great stadium hosting the netherlands/germany match the site of a possible major threat and indicates that something big was going down and, in fact, the stadium seats almost 50,000 people and among the attendance was supposed to be angela merkel, the chancellor of germany so whatever that intelligence was, it certainly spooked the germans who closed down the city and said there's a major threat in the entirety of the city and, of course, spirited angela merkel out of there and, of course, in belgium and we heard reports these people were in bosnia and in other countries, and the fact is that you are a belgian citizen like abdelhamid abaaoud or the other members of the cell that attacked france, you can travel freely.

you don't need to stop at a border post to show your i.d., your passports you can move fluidly throughout the entire continent. >> i have to wrap you up while we reset the situation that is happening right now. once again, as matt was mentioning and alex mentioning five arrests made all in connection with the terror attacks that took place last friday. you see police setting up that tent in for a long haul in paris. on the other side of this break, just imagine the horror of the

waking how will you milk life? we are continuing to follow the police raids under way in a paris suburb just north of paris, in fact, where a lot of police activity you can see right now. we believe those raids have

wrapped up and at least five people have come under arrest. we are also getting word out this hour from the white house that president obama has been informed about these attacks by his national security team. >> i should mention briefly as well that we're also getting word from the french national police that five police officers were also injured during this morning's raid. and in the meantime, as i mentioned just imagine the horror of those residents waking up just five days after the terror attacks and h gunshots and explosions. our partners at france 24 spoke with eyewitnesses earlier. >> i had heard an explosion about 20 minutes ago, about six explosions but it was quite a few explosions about 20 minutes ago. >> and what's happening there now? has it gone quiet there now? >> yes, it seems quiet, sir. but for safety reasons i won't

yeah, at least 50 police, army vehicles and over 100 soldiers, policemen and i saw that people were post inging about the shooting and then i realized that there was a shooting and then i informed all my friends and flatmates and people around the area and then, yeah, then there were continuous gunshots for -- felt like over a half hour. >> i woke up hearing gunshots, so i looked out the window and we could hear it. then we called the police to let them know what's going on and what we heard which was like a shooting or something but then she told us that the police was there there. so we could hear shootings until 5:30 a.m. and then we kcan still

waiting to see what's going on. we just want to be safe and we don't think about being near some terrorists or something like that so we never thought it could ever happen in my town but i fear we are to see that and terrifying. we can see places that we go often on tv where the police and things like that terrifying right now. >> she told me she was woken up by a huge explosion and they stormed into the building and told her to get downen 0 the floor. she was with her husband and her sister who is a baby and then she got really scared and she stayed in fact for two hours lying down on the floor police told her to stay calm to remain there while they were conducting the operation. then they told her -- they evacuated her and told her to go to the hall where she found refuge. she told she meefs really,

son and this was a very traumatic experience. >> hearing terror not only eyewitnesses on the ground in france but affecting others in country. the fbi saying that they have at least 90 americans who have been charged with plotting isis inspired attacks here in the united states. fbi director james comey just in the past few days has said that the fbi is investigating terror suspects in every single state in the u.s. we want to bring in fbi former fbi special agent brad garrett to tell us exactly what's going on here in america.

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well, if you're joining us now we have been for the past few hours following breaking news out of a suburb north of paris where police conduct what had they're calling a significant terror raid potentially going after the mastermind of friday's paris attacks. >> so far we are told that five arrests have been made. three from inside of an apartment that was targeted. w, the key target was the mastermind of that attack, abdelhlhid abaaoud, we're not sure whether or not he has been taken into custody as yet. all of this coming some five days after the attacks taking place in paris. meantime, we spoke a little earlier to abc news contributor brad garrett. we got him on the phone. brad. >> well, one of the keys ss any time you're trying to determine if somebody does a residence is what intelligence do you have

that he's there. in other words, did neighbors call you? did a source call you? what is the situation and then what you try to do is take that and can you actually corroborate it, in other words, what makes you the police convinced that this person is in that house? you know, as we just experienced in the last couple of days they entered the house and he wasn't there. they thought he was inside. maybe they had a situation, maybe they don't. but at some point if they have enough time they're going to figure out how to get either cameras, mikes inside a particular location to actually determine what they can see. and at some juncture i think you're reporting you're hearing noises which may possibly be vic bangs that they may have entered a residence or apartment or whatever it may be. >> all right, brad, and i'm just

curious about this one thing. they're saying it's possible abdelhamid abaaoud and this is a guy that's suspected behind the "charlie hebdo" aing that, the train attack that didn't happen and now this and they thought that he was in syria and now it turns out he might possibly be in a suburb of paris in a residential area. does thatind of shock you that that might be the case? that he might have been able to survive there for all this time? >> no. because the ability particularly in europe to move around in -- particularly if you do it by car is just not that difficult and particularly if you have great fake i.d.s and/or somebody else is moving you i can definitely see that to be a possibility. >> special agent brad garrett. in just a moment we'll have

paris. welcome back as we continue to follow the police raids in france. we want to bring in "world news tonight" anchor david muir in paris. arriving shortly after the attacks. what can you tell us about the scene right now? >> reporter: we've been on the scene here this morning, reena, and as you can see there's still a very heavy police presence. the operation is still uer way. we know that this operation had to do with abdelhamid abaaoud who, of course, is considered the mastermind of all these coordinated attacks though authorities have not been able to say whether or not he was in fact inside the building they have gone into here this morning. we know there have been five arrest, three inside the apartment detaiaid and then a man and woman later detained near that apartment building. we also know that authorities have confirmed this morning there was one woman who detonated a suicide belt as we've been reporting for days now in those coordinated attacks

attackers who took their lives all had identical suicide belts they were wearing. it's unclear if she was part of that group. >> and, david, what is the scene right now? does it appear as if things have calmed down where you are? >> reporter: [ no audio] >> on going for six hours and you can see the police presence is still there strong in saint-denis. we have several correspondents and, of course, "world news tonight" anchor david muir on the scene. >> as david was talking about there, what's unclear at this hour police are trying to ascertain that female suicide bomber who detonated her explosive vest. was she part of the same up grew, the same explosives used in the attack friday. police are still trying to work as you can see on the scene leaving that apartment area. we just in the few minutes have put up that tent and a great deal more police activity, more presence just around that apartment complex. >> we should point out on the

other end of this break our alex marquardt is close just step as way from the apartment that was the target. he will join us live from paris next.hma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. do not take breo more than prescribed. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. ask your doctor if 24-hour breo

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and it's waiting for you... at jared. >> this is continuing coverage of the raid in paris. police going after what they believe to be the mastermindf those paris attacks from friday. we just heard from an eyewitness a short time ago that he heard more than 50 shots in that area. helicopter activity overhead, explosions, police warning residents to remain in their homes even at this hour. >> and it is still a developing situation. we want to go right to that scene right now in saint-denis, just about 30 minutes north of central paris. our alex marquardt is there. alex. >> reporter: good morning, kendis. that's right. not just an evolving situation understand it's an active scene and told by the french justice ministry the raid is over. one of my colleagues just spoke with someone who lived on this street. right across from that apartment

that was raided. she described this as an active scene and said that this raid started at 4:15 this morning. she and her husband were woken by a very loud explosion that launched the raid and we understand that over the course of the next several hours there were lots of gunshotsts waves of gunshot, waves of explosions that resulted in the wounding of around five police officers. the french paris prosecutor's office tells us that five arrests have been made. three of them from inside that apartment and two people, a man and a woman who were near the apartment. the big question this morning is whether a man by the name of abdelhamid abaaoud was inside that apartment. he has been designated the mastermind, the organizer of these paris attacks on tri that left 129 people dead. he is a prominent member of isis.

he was believed to be in syria. he is of belgian origin featured prominently in many of their recruitment videos for fellow europeans featured prominent in several of their propaganda videos that were more barbaric showing those executions. if he is, indeed, in paris just outside paris in the suburb of saint-denis, the french authorities have said he was the target of this raid so if he is, indeed, here that means that he managed to slip through the europe intelligence net, make his way from syria back here to france. reena. >> >> alex, thank you very much for your reporting today. we wanto remindepdznd we've got more details coming up on "good morning america" and ask you stick with us. we've been following these continuing coverage over the past few hours of the police raids inaris -- excuse me, in france not far froro paris. >> quite a development this morning.

several police officers injured and "a" will have live team coverage of all the latest coming up. thanks for joining us.area and the hd radar currently showowsome light showows continuing in the area this morning. temperatures are cool in the 30s and blowing in at a west north west it's in the teens and 20s. make sure to bundle up! passing through the dayplanner, we've got some showers and potential mix to deal with as we top out in the upper 40s. your complete

shows some light showers continuing in t area this morning. temperatures are cool in the 30s and 40s and a wind is blowing in at a decent clip from the west north west making it feel like it's in the teens and " jessica rae: coming up this morning on abc9 news... the latest on the terror attacks in paris... as french investigators uncover more ues about last week's devastating assaults. " jessica rae: plus... the latest on the syrian refugee crisis here in iowa... more on what a center in des moines is doing to help those coming to our country. " jessica rae: and i'll take you to the dustin (soup-ee) suppi sentencing... and you'll hear a moving testimony from the wife of the man who suppi (soup-ee) killed last week. "" jessica rae: the hunt for the suspected mastermind of the paris terror

attacks has intensified.