Abaaoud's Body Found Riddled With Bullets

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said Abaaoud's body was found "riddled with bullets" and he was identified using skin samples.

"Abdelhamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified, after comparing fingerprints, as having been killed during the raid," the statement said.

 "It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets."

The suspected ring leader of the Paris attacks was among those killed in the Saint Denis flat siege, it has been confirmed.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who had boasted of mounting attacks in Europe for Islamic State, was accused of orchestrating Friday's bombings and shootings in the French capital, which killed 129 people.

It has emerged the 28-year-old Belgian may also have been involved in four of six thwarted attacks in France this year, including an assault by a gunman on a high-speed train which was thwarted by three Americans.

"Six attacks were avoided or foiled by the French services since spring 2015. Abaaoud was implicated in four of them," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters.

He was wanted on international warrants and had been sentenced in his absence in Belgium to 20 years in prison, said Mr Cazeneuve.

Police originally thought Abaaoud was in Syria, but three days after the deadly attacks received an intelligence tip he had been spotted in Greece.

Less than 48 hours later he was killed when heavily armed police stormed an apartment complex in the northern suburb of Saint Denis at dawn, triggering a massive firefight and explosions.