A senior
Turkish official says Ankara shared information with France about one of the
Paris attackers twice over the past year, but did not hear back from French
authorities.
A number of countries -
including France, Belgium and Turkey - continued on Monday to examine the
security shortfalls that allowed Friday's deadly attacks to occur around the
French capital.
The attacks, claimed by
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, killed at least 129
people and wounded more than 350.
A senior
Turkish official provided background information on Monday about one of the
attackers, 29-year-old Paris native Omar Ismail Mostefai, who died in the
attack on the Bataclan concert hall on Friday night.
The official said
Mostefai entered Turkey in 2013 and that there was no record of him ever
leaving.
In October 2014, France
asked for information from Turkish intelligence about four "terror
suspects", the official said, adding that during their investigation,
Turkish authorities identified Mostefai as a fifth suspect.
Turkish authorities "notified
their French counterparts twice - in December 2014 and June 2015 [about
Mostefai]," the official said.
"We have, however,
not heard back from France on the matter. It was only after the Paris attacks
that the Turkish authorities received an information request about Omar Ismail
Mostefai from Turkey."
The same information has
apparently been provided to a number of news outlets, as Turkey continues to
push for greater intelligence sharing.
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