Prosecutors: Man Suspected Of Planning Paris Attacks Is Dead

French prosecutors said Thursday that the man suspected of planning the Friday night Paris attacks that left 129 people dead last week was killed in a raid north of the French capital on Wednesday morning.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud was the target of the bloody, seven-hour raid in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris. Two people were killed in the raid, but it took French investigators until Thursday morning to confirm the identity of the suspected planner, a Belgian citizen with long-known affiliation to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A news release from the prosecutor's office said he was "formally identified" using forensic evidence taken from one of the bodies found at the scene of the raid, which saw scores of SWAT team officers fire more than 5,000 rounds of ammunition as they encountered resistance from six suspects inside.

The statement said his body was discovered riddled with bullet holes.

Abaaoud was declared the likely mastermind of the plot by French officials soon after the attacks. He believed to have planned previous ISIS attacks and attempted attacks in Europe, including the plot to have a gunman open fire on passengers of a high-speed train between France and Belgium that was thwarted by American travelers.

11/18/2015 Related Story: Paris Attacks Raid: Bodies Still Being Identified