Watch | French Raid targets suspected mastermind of Paris attacks

The French police launched an operation to catch the mastermind behind the devastating wave of Paris attacks that left 129 people dead last week.At least seven explosions were heard at the scene of a police standoff with suspects. Sources said 27-year-old Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is thought to have pulled the strings from Syria, was strongly believed to be among a group of people holed up in an apartment in the northern suburb near the national soccer stadium, one of the sites attacked by suicide bombers last week. The source said the operation was still under way shortly before 8 am (0700 GMT) and police were trying to “neutralise” two suspects. Around 50 French soldiers were deployed to the suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, after a prolonged shootout . One of the people dead was a woman who blew herself up with a suicide belt, agencies reported. Three suspects have been arrested so far.