{VOA News} – A French prosecutor said Saturday that the top suspect in the November terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris planned to blow himself up outside a soccer stadium, but changed his mind.
Salah Abdeslam was released from a Brussels hospital and taken to prison Saturday, a day after he and a suspected accomplice were shot during the police raid that captured them.
French prosecutor Francios Molins said Abdeslam’s statement that he had backed down from killing himself at the stadium had to be taken with caution. He said Abdeslam was seen in a section of Paris that was not attacked that night.
Abdeslam’s lawyer, Sven Mary, said his client was cooperating with Belgian police but would fight extradition to France.
The international police agency Interpol urged governments to be extra vigilant at their borders, saying Abdeslam’s accomplices might try to flee Europe.
Interpol recommended that border control agents look out for stolen passports and faked travel documents.
French President Francois Hollande said the investigation revealed that many more people were involved in the attacks than authorities originally believed. He said the network spanned several countries.
After an emergency defense council meeting in Paris on Saturday, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called Abdeslam’s capture an important blow against Islamic State in Europe. READ MORE
