French police executed an early morning raid Wednesday targeting Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind behind the Paris Attacks, a French official confirmed to ABC News.
Five arrests were made in the course of the raid, 3 of those arrested were inside the apartment, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. A man and woman nearby were also detained.
Another suspect, a woman, is dead after exploding a suicide vest, a French official told ABC News.
Witnesses reported ongoing gunfire starting at 4:30 a.m. local time in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, not far from the Stade de France, one of the targets in Friday's terrorist attacks.
A number of residents in the area were offered safe refuge in City Hall, but police asked that everyone stay inside with windows closed, according to a press officer with the Saint-Denis Mayor’s office.
More than 100 raids have been conducted in France in recent days as part of an emergency anti-terror crackdown, but were not related to the terror attacks.