France, Belgium widen 13/11 probe

An investigation into the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris widened on Tuesday when French prosecutors said a man who provided lodging to the suspected ringleader must have known of a militant plot, and Belgium issued a warrant for a new suspect.

Painting a chilling picture of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris prosecutor said that after dropping off the gunmen and suicide bombers at the cafes and bars where the attacks were to take place, he later returned to the scene while the killing spree was in full swing.

The coordinated attacks, in which 130 people were killed, prompted France to declare a national state of emergency and to step up airstrikes in Syria on Islamic State (ISIS), the militant group that has claimed responsibility.

President Francois Hollande, seeking to rally global support for the military campaign against ISIS, met US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday where they agreed to scale up operations against the ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

At a joint news conference, Mr Hollande said he and Mr Obama shared a “relentless determination to fight terrorism anywhere and everywhere.”

In Paris, prosecutor Francois Molins said Islamist militants who died during a shootout with the police on Nov. 18 had been plotting an attack on the capital’s business district.

Mr Molins said he had put under formal investigation a Frenchman who had provided lodging for Abaaoud and his associates at the apartment in the suburb of St. Denis.

Meanwhile, the brother of a fugitive Paris attack suspect is urging him to surrender to the police immediately.

Mohamed Abdeslam said on RTL radio Wednesday that he shares the pain of victims’ families and wishes he and his family could have done something to prevent the bloodshed across Paris November 13.

Abdeslam had two brothers involved in the attacks. Brahim Abdeslam blew himself up in front of a Paris cafe, and Salah Abdeslam is believed to have been another potential bomber but escaped the scene. An international warrant is out for his arrest.

Elsewhere in the UK, Daily Mail newspaper defended itself against accusations it paid for footage of one of the Paris attacks and used a hacker to access the video after it was encrypted by the police.

The newspaper is alleged to have paid $53,200 for the footage, showing customers diving for cover as gunmen opened fire on the terrace.