Abdelhamid Abaaoud (April 8, 1987) is a Belgian Islamic terrorist who is suspected of organizing multiple terror attacks in Belgium and France, including the November 2015 Paris attacks. Abaaoud also went by the names Abou Omar Soussi (Arabic: أبو عمر السوسي‎, meaning "from Sous", his Moroccan family's place of origin) and Abou Omar el-Beljiki (Arabic: أبو عمر البلجيكي‎, meaning Abou Omar the Belgian).

Biography

Abaaoud, one of six children, was born in Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, the son of Omar Abaaoud, a shopkeeper who emigrated to Belgium from Morocco in 1975. Abaaoud grew up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, an area where "the radical Salafist ideology has flourished among some young Muslims." He attended the elite Collège Saint-Pierre in Uccle for at least one year. He had previously spent time in prison at Saint Gilles. In 2013, he recruited his then 13-year-old brother Younes to join him in Syria. They left for Syria on 19 January 2014, for which he was convicted of abduction. He had previously been convicted for robbery.

In 2014, independent journalists Etienne Huver and Guillaume Lhotellier visited the Turkey-Syria border where they obtained photos and video of Abaaoud's time in Syria. One portion of this material showed Abaaoud and others loading bloody corpses into a truck and trailer before Abaaoud grinned and told the camera: "Before we towed jet skis, motorcycles, quad bikes, big trailers filled with gifts for vacation in Morocco. Now, thank God, following God's path, we're towing apostates, infidels who are fighting us."

Belgian authorities suspect him of helping organize and finance a terror cell in Verviers. This cell was raided on 15 January 2015 and two members of the cell were killed. In an interview with Dabiq, Abaaoud bragged on social media that he had gone to Belgium to lead the cell but escaped back to Syria, even being stopped by a police officer who compared him to a photo but did not identify him.

In July 2015, following the Verviers raid, he was convicted in absentia for 20 years by a Belgian judge for organizing terrorism.

Abaaoud is also suspected of being a part in the attempted attack by Sid Ahmed Ghlam at a church in Villejuif near Paris in April 2015, as well as of organizing the thwarted Thalys train attack that occurred on 21 August 2015.

As of late on 16 November 2015, according to The New York Times, French and Belgian security services were focused on Abaaoud, whom they believe to be the leader of the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Abaaoud is reported to have made comments to Dabiq, the magazine of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), in which he refers to his intention to fight "the crusaders".

Saint-Denis raid

On 18 November 2015, French authorities conducted a raid which ended in five injured police officers, two deaths, and five arrests. The raid took place in the suburb of Saint-Denis, near Paris, and was targeted at Abaaoud. According to Belgian authorities, Abaaoud was one of those who died in the raid, although the French authorities did not confirm this.