Published on 05:54 PM, November 15, 2015

Paris attacks: Weapons found in 'getaway car'

Tributes for the victims are left at a makeshift memorial in Paris's Place de la Republique. Photo: AFP

Several Kalashnikovs have been found in an abandoned car believed to have been used by some of the Paris attackers, French judicial sources say.

The black Seat car was found in the eastern Paris suburb of Montreuil on Sunday, suggesting some of the attackers got away.

Earlier, the first of the seven dead attackers was named as Ismail Mostefai. Six people close to him are in custody.

France is in three days of mourning for the 129 people killed in the attacks.

A special service for the families of the victims, the 350 people who were wounded, and the other survivors will be held at Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral later on Sunday.

Friday's attacks, claimed by Islamic State (IS) militants, hit a concert hall, a major sports stadium, restaurants and bars in the French capital.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said France will continue with air strikes against IS in Syria, and described the group as a very well-organised enemy.

President Francois Hollande has cancelled his plans to attend the G20 in Turkey and is holding meetings with various political leaders to discuss the crisis.

Belgian link?

The Seat car, found in Montreuil, is believed to have been used by gunmen who opened fire at people in restaurants on Friday night, police say.

Several AK47 rifles were found in the car, French media quotes judicial sources as saying.

It appears to confirm the theory that some of the gunmen managed to flee from the scene after the attacks, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

These men may then have driven north in another car to Belgium, he adds.

Tributes are placed at Le Carillon bar in rue Alibert. PHOTO: AFP
Tribute to Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia) also in rue Alibert, where 15 people died. PHOTO: AFP
A rose is left in a bullet hole near La Belle Equipe, where 19 people die. Photo: AFP

A new type of terrorism?

Five men were arrested in Belgium on Saturday - in the town of Molenbeek near Brussels - in connection with the Paris attacks, Molenbeek's mayor told Belgian TV.

At least one of those arrested was believed to have spent Friday in Paris, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel has said.

A Volkswagen Polo with Belgian number plates was found near the Bataclan concert venue, where nearly 90 people were killed.

Paris chief prosecutor Francois Molins said that car had been rented by a French national living in Belgium.

"We can say at this stage of the investigation there were probably three co-ordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act," Mr Molins said.

"We have to find out where they came from... and how they were financed."

A Syrian passport, found near the body of one of the attackers at the Stade de France, had been used to travel through the Greek island of Leros last month, Greek officials have confirmed.

Serbia says the holder of that passport had also crossed its border from Macedonia and sought asylum at one of its registration centres.

No direct link has yet been made with the holder of the passport and the attackers.

History of petty crime

Mostefai was reportedly identified after investigators found a severed finger at the scene of the worst atrocity, the Bataclan concert hall where more than 80 people died.

He came from the town of Courcouronnes, south of Paris. He lived in the city of Chartres 100km (60 mils) south-west of Paris until 2012, according to the local MP and deputy mayor Jean-Pierre Gorges.

He is said to have regularly attended a mosque near Chartres.