SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE -- A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week's gun and bomb rampage was believed to be holed up, police said.
They said one man was also killed and seven people arrested in the standoff, which began before dawn and continued more than five hours later. Authorities believe there may still be someone still hiding in an apartment. A loud bang rang out in the streets adjacent to the building around the time of the latest arrests.
A senior police official said he believed Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian Islamic State militant, was inside the apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis with five other heavily armed people when the raid started.
The official, who was not authorised to be publicly named according to police rules but is informed routinely about the operation, said scores of police stormed the building and were met with unexpectedly violent resistance.
Families are evacuated by police members at the site were a police raid happened in the city centre of Saint Denis, near Paris Nov 18. (EPA photo)
Another police official not authorised to be publicly named because of police rules said four police officers were injured. No hostages were being held.
The Paris prosecutor's office said Swat teams arrested three people in the apartment. It said they haven't been identified yet.
Another man and woman were detained near the apartment, the office said in a statement.
French President Francois Hollande held holding an emergency meeting with senior ministers at the Elysee Palace to monitor the raid.
Residents said an explosion shook the neighbourhood at about 4am (10am in Bangkok).
"Then there was a second big explosion. Then two more explosions. There was an hour of gunfire," said Baptiste Marie, a 26-year-old independent journalist who lives in the neighbourhood.
Another witness, Amine Guizani, said he heard the sound of grenades and automatic gunfire.
"They were shooting for an hour. Nonstop. There were grenades. It was going, stopping. Kalashnikovs. Starting again," Ms Guizani said.
Police forces prepare in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday. Authorities in the Paris suburb are telling residents to stay inside during a large police operation near France's national stadium that two officials say is linked to last week's deadly attacks. (AP photo)
Sporadic bangs and explosions continued, and at 7.30am at least seven explosions shook the centre of Saint-Denis. Associated Press reporters at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade blasts from the direction of the standoff.
Investigators have identified 27-year-old Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan descent, as the chief architect of Friday's attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people and injured 350 others.
A US official briefed on intelligence matters said Abaaoud was a key figure in an Islamic State external operations cell that US intelligence agencies have been tracking for many months.
Police vans and fire trucks rushed to the scene north of Paris, less than two kilometres (just over a mile) from the Stade de France stadium. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday near the stadium during an international soccer match with Mr Hollande in attendance.
In Saint-Denis on Wednesday, police cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century apartment buildings. Riot police cleared people from the streets, pointing guns at curious residents to move them off the roads.
French army soldiers stand in position in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city centre on Nov 18 as French police special forces raid an apartment, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital five days ago. (AFP photo)
Saint-Denis is one of France's most historic places. French kings were crowned and buried through the centuries in its famed basilica. Today it is home to a vibrant and very ethnically diverse population and sees sporadic tension between police and violent youths.
Saint-Denis mayor Didier Paillard said public transport was suspended and that schools in the centre of town would not open Wednesday.
Seven attackers died in Friday's attacks, which targeted several bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall, as well as the national stadium. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the carnage.
Police had said before the raids that they were hunting for two fugitives suspected of taking part as well as any accomplices. That would bring the number of attackers to at least nine.
French authorities had previously said that at least eight people were directly involved in the bloodshed: seven who died in the attacks and one who got away and slipped across the border to Belgium.
However, there have been gaps in officials' public statements, which have never fully disclosed how many attackers took part in the deadly rampage.
On Tuesday, officials told The Associated Press they now believe at least one other attacker was involved and they were working to identify and track down that suspect. Three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide details about the ongoing investigation.
Policemen are gathered in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city centre on Nov 18 as French police special forces raid an apartment, hunting those behind the attacks. (AFP photo)
Surveillance video obtained by the AP also indicated that a team of three attackers carried out the shootings at one of the cafes. The video was among evidence authorities used in concluding that at least one other attacker was at large, the French officials indicated.
The brief clip shows two black-clad gunmen with automatic weapons calmly firing on the bar then returning toward a waiting car, whose driver was maneuvering behind them. Authorities believe the car is the same black SEAT-make vehicle that was found Saturday with three Kalashnikovs inside.
Police have identified one subject of their manhunt as Abdeslam, whom French police accidentally permitted to cross into Belgium on Saturday. One of his brothers, Brahim, blew himself up in Paris.
Meanwhile, French fighter jets attacked Islamic State targets in Syria for a third night. The French defence ministry said 10 jets had hit two Islamic State command centers in the militants' base of Raqqa, Syria.
The Paris attacks have galvanised international determination to confront the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, bringing France, Russia and the United States closer to an alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the missile cruiser Moskva, currently in the Mediterranean, to start cooperating with the French military on operations in Syria.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said a ceasefire between Syria's government and the opposition could be just weeks away. He described it as potentially a "gigantic step" toward deeper international cooperation against IS.
France -- and the rest of Europe -- remain on edge four days after the attacks. Two Air France flights bound for Paris from the US were diverted Tuesday night -- one to Salt Lake City and one to Halifax -- because of anonymous threats received after they had taken off. Both were inspected and cleared to resume their journeys.
In the German city of Hannover, a soccer game between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled at the last minute and the stadium evacuated by police because of a bomb threat.
Police chief Volker Kluwe told German public broadcaster NDR that the alleged threat involved the "detonation of explosives in the stadium," though no explosives had been found Tuesday evening.
