Hero Police Dog Blown Up by Suicide Bomber During Terrorists' Last Stand:
French Police Honour Diesel the Belgian Shepherd who 'Died to Defend our Colours'
+ At Least Five Police Were Injured in the Ferocious Gunfight - Anti-terror dog died during a massive firefight with suspected Paris jihadis
- Witness said she was blown to pieces when woman detonated suicide vest
- As tributes poured in, one handler said: 'It's like losing one our colleagues'
Daily Mail UK, 18 November 2015
A anti-terror police dog has died after being blown up by a female suicide bomber during a firefight with suspected ISIS militants behind the Paris massacre.
The seven-year-old Belgian Shepherd named Diesel was killed during a raid by up to 100 police and soldiers on a flat in the French capital this morning.
A witness said Diesel, who is trained to sniff out explosives, was blown to pieces when a jihadi bride came out firing her AK-47 at police before detonating her suicide vest.
Tributes quickly poured in to the respected canine, with one police handler saying: 'It's a little like losing one our colleagues.'
One Twitter user said Diesel had 'died o defend out colours'.
A police dog has died after a female terrorist blew herself up during a firefight with suspected Paris terrorists including the mastermind behind Friday's massacres in northern Paris.
French police posted this picture while paying tribute to Diesel but it was not clear if the image shows the Belgian Shepherd
The official profile for Police Nationale tweeted that Diesel 'was killed by terrorists in the current operation in Saint-Denis'.
The force said that 'assault and explosives' search dogs are indispensable to the work of the French anti-terror unit known as RAID.
More than 100 police and soldiers were involved in a gunfight with up to six suspected Paris terrorists holed up in the flat including the mastermind behind the atrocities.
The stand-off ended as a bloodied and half-naked suspect was dragged out of an apartment block through broken glass in Saint-Denis - close to the Stade de France.
In their sights: Police move in on the apartment where the female suicide bomber blew herself up after firing an AK-47 machine at officers. At least one other jihadi is also dead since the stand-off started at dawn
Rush: Police with pistols drawn rush towards the apartment block while soldiers with machine guns peer around the corner close to the siege
The gunfight started at 4.30am when SWAT teams and special forces surrounded the building believing the architect of the massacres that killed 129 people, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, was inside. It is not known if he is dead or alive.
A woman 'with long blonde hair' who may be Abaaoud's jihadi bride is said to have fired her AK-47 at police before blowing herself up as an assault squad first stormed the apartment block.
Survivors of the Bataclan massacre where 89 people died insisted there was a female shooter.
Lotfi, a 50-year-old who was in the area, said:
'I heard police officers talking to a woman with long blonde hair.
'I think she was the kamikaze. They told her not to lower her arms, to keep her hands up in the air, and then there was a massive explosion.
I think that's when she detonated her bomb. It really was a very loud explosion.'
'Lots of windows on the street were shattered, and then the firefight started and it was going on nonstop.'
Mystery suspect: Hooded police officers pull a man arrested in the siege through crowds of other officers and soldiers during the Saint-Denis siege
Drama: A terror suspect is dragged from the building with no trousers - presumably in case he was wearing a suicide belt - as police continue to train their weapons on the flat
Lofti, who would not offer his surname, said he saw Diesel blown to pieces.
As the suicide bomber attacked police, a rooftop sniper shot dead another terror suspect through a window.
Police said that five people in the apartment were taken alive and arrested while two others were held 'nearby'.
At least five police were injured in the ferocious gunfight including one shot in the foot seen being carried from the scene.
Security had been watching several flats in Saint-Denis since yesterday and also tapped phones before they swooped this morning believing Abaaoud and other terrorists were inside.