Paris attacks 2015: Another possible strike foiled after police raid terrorist cell; 2 dead, 8 other suspects arrested

Residents from the suburb of Saint-Denis were roused from their sleep during the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Nov. 18, by gunshots and explosions. The French police raided a terrorist cell in hopes of capturing the Paris attacks main perpetrators and stopping the group in its tracks of plotting yet another terror strikes.

The police operation left two people dead (one man and one woman) and eight others were arrested from the suspected group in an apartment building, according to a report from NBC News. The early morning raid was conducted by the police following the information they got about a possible hideout in the area of Belgian jihadi Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is believed by the police authorities to may have played a significant role in the planning and execution of the recent attacks in different areas of the city.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins, however, said that neither Abaaoud nor suspected fugitive accomplice Salah Abdeslam was among those who are now in the custody of the authorities. For the meantime, they have yet to confirm the identity of the two suspects who were killed in the raid.

The French authorities are also not discounting the possibility that there was a third body from the raid. The woman who got killed blew herself up for a suicide. She was identified as a cousin of Abaaoud. There were body parts found in the area and that is why DNA analysis was also being conducted as part of the investigation to determine if Abaaoud was indeed one of those killed in the apartment.

"Someone asked me to put two people up for three days and I did them a favor, it's normal. I don't know where they came from I don't know anything. If I'd known do you think I'd have done it?" said Jawad Ben Dow, local resident and owner of the apartment building.

According to CNN, the raid in Saint-Denis started at around 4:20 a.m. and took an hour before it ended. There were five police officers who were injured during the operation while a police dog has been killed. There were 110 officers from France's elite RAID unit who were part of the mission.

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande said that he would be asking the Parliament to give their approval for the extension of the state of emergency status for another three months. Currently, the law in the country deem the state of emergency valid for only a period of 12 days at most, the CNN report also noted.