The alleged ringleader of the last month’s terror attacks in Paris is believed to have directed the three terrorists inside the Bataclan theatre by phone from a few blocks away, according to a French terrorism expert.
A witness has also reportedly informed the French investigators that he saw Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the alleged ringleader, standing in a doorway yelling into his phone for about an hour.
The witness claimed that on the fateful night of the attacks, he went to check his car parked nearby a number of times, and every time he noticed Abaaoud standing there and talking to someone on phone.
The witness also described Abaaoud as ”very agitated”. When the witness later walked past him, he was able to see his face.
The witness saw that Abaaoud’s head was shaved and he was wearing layers of loose clothing.
When Abaaoud’s photographs were later published in the media, the witness immediately recognized him and alerted the authorities.
The witness account was disclosed by French terrorism analyst Jean Charles Brisard in the latest edition of the Combating Terrorism Center’s journal Sentinel.
Abaaoud had previously appeared in videos produced by ISIS, and the group claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks the day after they occurred.
He was killed five days later when police raided an apartment in the Paris district of St. Denis, along with a female cousin and a man who has not been identified. According to French investigators, Abaaoud was planning another wave of attacks in the business district of Paris known as La Defense and had also talked about attacks on public transportation, schools and “Jewish targets.”
