Video: Gunfight as police raid Paris suburb searching for ISIS !

“3 terrorist suspects killed, others held in raid in Saint-Denis, officials say,” by Jethro Mullen, Atika Shubert and Margot Haddad, CNN, November 18, 2015:

Saint-Denis, France (CNN)Three terrorist suspects have been killed in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis during an ongoing security operation linked to the deadly attacks that rocked the French capital five days ago, a police source said. The targets of the raid are believed to have included the purported ringleader of the attacks.

Latest developments:

• 4:48 a.m. ET: The operation is still in progress, the French National Police said. Five officers have been lightly wounded and a police dog was killed in the raid, according to police.

• 3:07 a.m. ET: Five people have been arrested during the operation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. They include three men who were removed from the apartment at the heart of the raid, and a man and a woman who were detained near the apartment, the prosecutor’s office said. It also confirmed that a woman killed herself at the scene by activating her suicide belt.

• 2:52 a.m. ET: The police operation is “absolutely not over,” said Matthieu Hanotin, a lawmaker for Saint-Denis. He told French radio that police believe that there are still heavily armed terrorists inside the building. French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira had earlier suggested the raid was “coming to an end.”

• 2:47 a.m. ET: Three suspected terrorists have been killed in the raid, a police source told CNN.

• 2:16 a.m. ET: One of the terrorist suspects killed was shot by a police sniper, and another was a woman who died after her suicide vest exploded, the broadcaster reported. A civilian passerby was killed during the operation, it said.

• 2:08 a.m. ET: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, is one of the potential targets of the operation, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN. The official cautioned that French and Belgian authorities weren’t certain that Abaaoud was at the location when they launched the raid in search of high priority targets.

• 1:32 a.m. ET: A series of explosions is heard in the area. The cause of the blasts wasn’t immediately clear.

• Police and soldiers have cordoned off the zone and all public transportation in the area has been halted. Residents have been warned to stay inside.

Full story:

Gunfire and explosions shook the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early Wednesday as heavily armed police stormed a building where suspects linked to Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks were believed to be holed up.

Police blocked off roads before dawn Wednesday and told residents to stay inside in Saint-Denis, a diverse, working-class area that is home to the Stade de France sports stadium where three suicide bombings took place Friday.

The situation has been developing quickly in recent hours, but as of mid-morning Paris time, three terrorist suspects were said by a police source to have been killed. One of them was a woman who blew herself up with a suicide belt, authorities said.

Five other people were arrested, including three men who were removed from the apartment at the heart of the raid, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. Five police officers were lightly wounded during the operation.

The identities of the dead and detained suspects wasn’t immediately clear. It was also uncertain how many people might still be inside the apartment, which is on a street just a few blocks from the Basilica Cathedral of Saint Denis, where many French monarchs’ remains are entombed.

A senior Belgian counterterrorism official told CNN that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, was one of the potential targets of the police raid.

But the official cautioned that French and Belgian authorities weren’t certain that Abaaoud, a Belgian ISIS member who was widely believed to have been in Syria recently, was at the location when they launched the raid.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud is as Belgian as sushi.

Saadana Aymen, a 29-year-old who lives one street down from the site of the police operation, said he couldn’t believe what was happening in his neighborhood.

“When you think of Saint-Denis, you don’t think of terrorists,” he told CNN. “I’m shocked! Why would the terrorists pick this neighborhood?”

Shocked!