Police release brother of Paris suicide attacker
One of the brothers of a suicide bomber involved in the Paris terror attacks has been released, his lawyer said.
Mohamed Abdeslam, who had been arrested over the weekend, is the brother of Brahim Abdeslam who died when he detonated his suicide vest on Friday.
Another brother, Salah Abdeslam, is the object of a massive manhunt.
Mohamed Abdeslam’s lawyer Nathalie Gallant told the RTL network that her client “hadn’t made the same choice of life”.
His release comes after French police raided 168 locations across the country and arrested 23 people.
Authorities also identified more members of a sleeper cell said to be behind the attacks.
French and Belgian jihadis – and at least one potential Syrian member – are being implicated in what was the worst attack on French soil since World War II.
The mastermind is said to be a Belgian national linked to thwarted earlier attacks on a train and a French church.
With France under a state of emergency that gives police special powers, the hunt continued for members of the cell that carried out last Friday’s gun and bomb attacks.
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said police arrested 23 people and recovered a Kalashnikov and other weapons during the overnight raids.
Heavily armed Belgian police also launched a major operation in the Molenbeek neighbourhood of Brussels, which authorities consider to be a focal point for extremists and fighters going to Syria from Belgium.
