Turkey warned France over Paris attacker

Turkey warned France almost a year ago ove r a suspected Islamic State (IS) militant who blew himself up in the bloody Paris attacks but the French authorities did not respond, a senior Turkish official said today.

Turkish police “notified their French counterparts twice -- in December 2014 and June 2015” about Omar Ismail Mostefai, the official told AFP, asking not to be named. “We did, however, not hear back from France on the matter,” added the official. Identified by his finger, which was found among the rubble of the Bataclan concert hall, the 29-year-old Mostefai was one of three attackers, all wearing suicide vests, at the venue where 89 people were killed in the bloodiest scene of the carnage. Born on November 21 1985, in the Paris suburb, Mostefai’s criminal record shows eight convictions for petty crimes but no jail time.

The Turkish official confirmed that Mostefai entered Turkey from the northwestern province of Edirne that borders EU members Greece and Bulgaria in 2013. “There is no record of him leaving the country,” said the Turkish official.  “It was only after the Paris attacks that the Turkish authorities received an information request about Omar Ismail Mostefai from France.” Turkey received an 

information request regarding four terror suspects from the French authorities, but not for Mostefai even though he had been identified by Turkey as a potential terror suspect.