Foued Mohamed-Aggad, 23, of Strasbourg, France, has been identified as the third Bataclan gunman. (Getty)
A 23-year-old Frenchmen has been identified as one of the gunmen killed in the attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris.
Foued Mohamed-Aggad was one of three terrorists who stormed the theater during an Eagles of Death Metal concert on November 13, killing 89 people, The Guardian reports. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The other two Bataclan gunmen have been identified as Omar Ismaïl Mostefai, 29, and Samy Amimour, 28. Two of the gunmen killed themselves by detonating suicide vests and the third was fatally shot by police.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. His Mother Gave Police a DNA Sample After Receiving a ‘Martyr Text’
French investigators were able to identify Aggad after receiving information from his mother, NBC News reports. She received a text message saying her son had died as a martyr, and she brought that to police. His mother also gave a DNA sample.
“Without the mother, there would have been nothing,” the family’s lawyer, Francoise Cotta, told the Associated Press.
“The SMS message told her that her son had died, saying: He died on November 13 with his brothers,'” Cotta told Reuters, saying the message came about 10 days ago. “She was instantly struck by the horrific thought that he might have been one of the Bataclan suicide attackers.”
2. He Was From Strasbourg & Traveled to Syria in 2013
Aggad was from Strasbourg, France, and was known as a juvenile delinquent, authorities said. He and his brother traveled among a group of at least a dozen young men to Syria in 2013, the Associated Press reports.
They were recruited to join ISIS by another Frenchman, Mourad Faraes, according to the AP. He has been arrested.
“He lied to us. He said he was going on holiday two years ago and he went to Syria,” his father, Saïd Mohamed Aggad, told La Parisien. “I thought he would die in Syria or Iraq, not come back here and do that.”
All of the attackers identified so far are from either France or Belgium. Two of the terrorists are believed to have used fake Syrian passports to travel back to France.
3. His Brother & Several Friends Were Arrested Last Year in France
An ambulance sits outside the Bataclan. (Getty)
Aggad’s brother, Karim, was arrested in 2014 when he and others tried to return to France, The Guardian reports.
Two of the other men who traveled with Aggad to Syria were killed there. He was the only member of the group to stay in the country with ISIS.
4. He Told His Family He Was Not Returning to France
Rescuers and firefighters stand by on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire near the Bataclan concert hall. (Getty)
According to his family, Aggad had said he planned to stay in Syria or Iraq, and would likely die there as a suicide bomber.
“The last time I heard from him was four or five months ago via Skype. As usual, he didn’t say where he was or what he was doing. He spoke a lot about jihad. What can I say? It was like talking to someone different, someone who had been brainwashed. There wasn’t anything more to say to him,” his father told La Parisien.
“Each time there was a call, I was expecting to hear he had died in a bombing or something else. It would have been better that he died in Syria,” his father added.
5. His Father Said He ‘Would Have Killed Him’ Had He Known What He Was Doing
The Bataclan cafe near the Bataclan concert hall in central Paris after the attack. (Getty)
His family says they did not know what he was going to do.
“What kind of human being could do what he did?” Mohamed-Aggad’s father, Said, told Le Parisien newspaper. “If I had known he would do something like this, I would have killed him.”
