Paris Attacks: Syrian Migrant Was Among the Bombers

Attacker in Paris assaults that killed 129 had entered Europe last month

 

PARIS—One of the assailants in Friday’s deadly attacks in and near the French capital recently entered Europe as a Syrian migrant, people familiar with the matter said, exposing gaps in the continent’s security as it copes with the biggest refugee crisis in decades.

French investigators were able to match the remains of one of the suicide bombers who attacked France’s main stadium to a Syrian passport that was used to enter Europe’s free-travel area and apply for asylum, the people familiar with the matter said.

 

 

 

 

 

European security officials have worried that Islamic State operatives would bring terror by mixing with the cohort of Iraqi and Syrian migrants who are fleeing war each week.

Screening migrants represents a formidable security challenge at a time when European intelligence agencies are straining to keep track of thousands of their own nationals who have rallied to Islamic State, officials say.

France, which blamed the Sunni insurgency for Friday’s attacks, faces an especially difficult task because its security services have been suffering from what they describe as a relative blindness in the region since Paris stopped cooperating with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“This is what we had feared,” a senior French official said.

Greek authorities said the holder of the passport found at the stadium near Paris had been registered as a refugee on the island of Leros on Oct. 3.

 

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks on a social media account but didn’t provide specific information that would allow the claim to be verified. It said the attacks were retaliation for French airstrikes against the group in Syria and Iraq.

Famed Parisian museums such as the Louvre and departments stores closed Saturday. Many other shops were also shut, leaving the city’s normally busy streets less bustling than usual.

 

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