Pentagon: Paris attacks suspects killed in air strikes

Two ISIL fighters with ties to Paris assault among 10 “leaders” killed in recent air attacks.

The Pentagon said most ISIL leaders were killed in drone strikes in Syria and Iraq [US military/Reuters]

Two suspects in the deadly Paris attacks claimed by ISIL were killed this month by coalition air strikes in Syria and Iraq, the US military said on Tuesday.

French national Charaffe al-Mouadan, 27, a native of the St Denis suburb of Paris, was among 10 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leaders killed in air raids targeting its leadership, Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said.

“Over the past month, we’ve killed 10 ISIL leadership figures with targeted air strikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris attacks,” Warren said.

Mouadan is believed to have fled to Syria in November 2015. It was unclear if he travelled there before or after the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others.

“Charaffe al-Mouadan – a Syrian-based ISIL member with a direct link to Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, the Paris attack cell leader – was killed on December 24,” said Warren.

“Al-Mouadan was actively planning additional attacks against the West.”

Warren said that the 10 ISIL leaders were mainly killed by drones in Iraq and Syria.

The other dead suspect involved in the Paris attacks was identified as Abdel Kader Hakim who was killed in Mosul, Iraq on Saturday.

“He was part of ISIL’s external operations group who enabled attacks against Western targets,” said Warren. “His death removes an important facilitator with many connections in Europe.

Most of the 10 killed appeared to be mid-level ISIL leaders, Warren said.

Another was from Bangladesh but spent time in Britain and was a hacker who coordinated anti-surveillance technology, he said.

Teams of gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and wearing suicide vests hit public targets throughout Paris on Friday November 13. French President Francois Hollande called the brazen assault an “act of war” and deployed an aircraft carrier to the Middle East after ISIL claimed responsibility.