Paris Attacks Raid: Bodies Still Being Identified

A major police operation targeting the alleged mastermind of the Paris attacks in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis resulted in eight arrests and two people killed, the top Paris prosecutor said Wednesday.

A man and a woman were killed, Paris Prosecutor François Molins said at a press conference Wednesday discussing the investigation into the Paris attacks. However, Molins added that both their bodies were so badly damaged that officials could not definitively determine their identities.

The woman is believed to have detonated a suicide vest during the raid on her location. Speaking after the raid, French officials said the man was found dead inside the apartment with gun and grenade wounds. Molins said at some point during the raid the third floor of the building collapsed, and the man's body was later found among the rubble, along with a survivor, who was arrested.

Among the eight arrested, there were seven men and one woman. Molins said that officials would not release their identities for the time being, but he did say that a terrorist cell had been "neutralized" in Saint-Denis by the main raid where the bodies were found, as well as another nearby police operation. He added the cell was ready to undertake an operation of some kind, but did not specify what exactly.

Other French officials said after the raid they believed Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant believed to have planned the gruesome attack last week, was inside the apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with five other heavily armed people.

At his press conference, Molins would only say that Abaaoud as well as the other main Paris attacks suspect still at large, Salah Abdeslam, were not among those taken into custody.

France has been on edge and a massive international police operation has been launched since the deadly attacks in Paris last week killed at least 129 people.

Overnight raids by French police across France resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of 34 weapons.  The new tally was announced Wednesday by the Interior Ministry.

In all, French police have carried out 414 raids and made 60 arrests while seizing 75 weapons since Friday. The captured armory includes 11 military-style firearms, 33 rifles and 31 handguns. In addition to dozens of arrests, 118 more people have been placed under house arrest in another of the new powers permitted under France's state of emergency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.