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Third body recovered after St Denis raid

November 20, 2015

French prosecutors have found a third body at the site of Wednesday's raid that killed the leader of last week's Paris attacks. Meanwhile, France has planned a cultural show of strength one week after the assaults.

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Frankreich Schießerei bei Polizeiaktion in Saint-Denis Paris
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/MASPPP

A third person - a woman - has been discovered dead amid the rubble of the raided apartment building in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, French prosecutors reported on Friday.

The body, discovered overnight into Friday, has not been identified. Destruction done to the apartment has slowed forensic work.

During the assault on Wednesday, an elite police squad fired five-thousand rounds, killing the purported mastermind of the terrorist attacks, the Belgian 28-year old Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Prosecutors have also confirmed that a woman who blew herself up during the raid was Abaaoud's 26-year old cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen. Investigators found a handbag at the site containing her passport.

The hunt is still on in Europe for the eighth assailant in the Paris terrorist attacks, Salah Abdeslam.

A somber anniversary to be set alight

Twitter users are calling for a display of "noise and light" in Paris to mark the one-week anniversary of the attacks, galvanized under the hashtag "#21h20" - or 9:20pm, the time when the November 13 attacks began.

French artists and cultural figures presented the idea in a letter published on the "Huffington Post." They called for a united defiance - regardless of race or faith - of the terrorists' assault on "culture and freedom."

The attacks centered on places of leisure and culture -including cafés, a sports stadium and the Bataclan music hall.

By turning on lights and playing music at the poignant moment, the authors of the letter hope to prove that the attackers have lost and "culture will continue to radiate and burnish the light of hope and fraternity."

A national tribute to the attacks will be held in Paris on Friday, November 27, according to a statement from the office of French President Francois Hollande.

jtm/jm (AFP, AP, dpa)