Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud (centre), 27, is believed to have been the ringleader of last Friday's massacres which left 129 dead across the French capital. In a statement, the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed that his body had been identified based on skin samples, ending hours of speculation around the world.
He died in a ferocious six-hour gun and grenade battle which saw 5,000 rounds of ammunition fired by police in the raid (right) in Saint-Denis, north of Paris. Police (who continued to comb the scene for clues today, left) launched the operation after receiving information from tapped phone calls, surveillance and tip-offs suggesting that he was holed up there.
His French-born cousin, Hasna Aitboulahcen, 27, was also believed to have been killed in the siege when she detonated her suicide vest, making her Europe's first ever female suicide bomber.
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