News / France

Explosive vest without detonator found south of Paris

Monday, 23 November 2015 11:03 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 24 November 2015 2:06 AM ]

French police cordon off the area after an alleged explosive belt was found in Montrouge, near Paris, November 23, 2015. (Reuters)

French police have found an object believed to be an explosive vest in the south of the French capital, near where a mobile phone used by a key suspect in the recent deadly Paris attacks was detected.

The vest, which is missing its detonator, was found by a street cleaner in the town of Montrouge on Monday.

A French police official said the vest contained bolts and the same type of explosive material -- Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) aka "Mother of Satan" to police -- used in seven other explosive vests in the Paris attacks.

The mobile phone of suspected assailant Salah Abdeslam was detected on the night of the attacks in the city's northern 18th district and later in the town of Chatillon in the south, next to Montrouge.

This handout picture released by French police shows Salah Abdeslam, suspected of being involved in the attacks carried out in Paris on November 13, 2015. (AFP)

Abdeslam has been on the run since the November 13 attacks that claimed the lives of 130 people, and is the focus of an extensive manhunt.

According to security officials, investigators are now wondering whether there was a failed or aborted attack in the 18th district of Paris on November 13, since Daesh said it had targeted the area, among other places, when claiming responsibility for the fatal attacks.

Pointing to the possibility of an aborted attack, a police source said there is a hypothesis that Abdeslam “abandoned” the attack, because “he had a technical problem” with his explosive vest.

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