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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National

Chilling countdown as Belgian terror investigators describe 'convoy of death'

The 13 November 2015 Paris attacks have left France scarred. AFP/File

At the special criminal court in Paris, where those suspected of complicity in the November 2015 terrorist attacks are being tried, police on Thursday described the hours leading up to the atrocities that cost 131 people their lives.

There were very few people present in court to hear a Belgian policewoman describe the final preparations made by the Paris killers.

Thursday was the 98th day of this trial.

On 9 November 2015, we were told, the Abdeslam brothers, Salah and Brahim, rented three cars. They took no precautions to conceal their identities, using their own ID cards and driving licences.

Two days later, someone in the terrorist group activated 14 mobile telephone lines, eight to be used by the attackers, six for the coordinators who remained behind in Brussels.

During the night of 12 November, the three cars started for Paris.

'Convoy of death' sets off

Evidence from security cameras and telephone links has enabled the police to identify the occupants of each vehicle.

In the Renault Clio were the two Abdeslam brothers, along with Mohamed Abrini.

Brahim Abdeslam subsequently blew himself up on the terrace of a Paris café. The two others survived.

In the VW Polo were the Bataclan attackers, Foued Mohamed-Aggad, Sami Amimour and Omar Mostefaï, as well as the Stade de France bomber Bilal Hadfi. All four died perpetrating the attacks.

In the Seat were the terrace killers Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Chakib Akrouh, with the two Iraqis destined to blow themselves up near the Stade de France arena. Abaaoud and Akrouh died in a police raid on an appartment in the inner-city Paris suburb of Saint-Denis six days after the attacks.

Various hotel rooms and lodgings had been reserved for the three teams in north Paris.

'I wanted to share their last moments'

Mohamed Abrini has told Belgian investigators that he made the journey to the French capital because he wanted to be with his friends for as long as possible.

"It was the last time I was going to see them," he explained. "I wanted to share their last breaths, their last moments. I knew what was going to happen. I knew I wouldn't see them again."

That may not be the whole truth, but Abrini's admission could be enough to ensure that he spends the next 20 years behind bars for knowingly associating with those planning a terrorist act.

It was Abrini who first used the expression "convoy of death" to describe the three-car expedition to police investigators.

The trial continues.


Click here to read full coverage of the trial since it began.

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