The suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks and an accomplice planned to blow themselves up in a suicide attack on the city's La Defense business district, the chief prosecutor said this evening.
Belgian jihadist Abdelhamid Abaaoud aimed to target the area in the west of the French capital, where many major French companies have their headquarters, in the week after the 13 November carnage, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters.
Abaaoud was killed in a massive police raid on an apartment in northern Paris five days after the series of suicide bombings and shootings in the capital, which killed 130 people.
The prosecutor also revealed that telephone analysis showed that Abaaoud returned to the scene of the attacks while the siege at the Bataclan concert venue was still under way.
The analysis showed he had gone back to the area around the Bataclan in eastern Paris, where 90 people were killed by three assailants, while the police operation to free hostages was ongoing.
The analysis "leads us to believe that Abaaoud returned to the scene of the crimes after the attack carried out on the people sitting at tables at restaurants and while the BRI [elite police] were intervening at the Bataclan", the prosecutor said.
Abaaoud had also been in contact by phone with Bilal Hadfi, one of the suicide bombers who detonated his explosives outside the Stade de France stadium, the prosecutor said.
No French ground troops in Syria
France will not send ground troops to Syria, French President Francois Hollande said this evening at the White House.
"France will not intervene militarily on the ground," Mr Hollande said, standing alongside US President Barack Obama.
"It is for the local forces to do so," he said.
Mr Hollande said the US and France have agreed to step up strikes in Syria and Iraq to target IS militants.
He said he and Mr Obama agreed on the importance of closing the Turkish border to limit the movement of extremists into Europe.
Mr Obama emphasised the long friendship between France and the United States and pledged to step up efforts to combat terrorism alongside its European partners.
"As Americans, we stand by our friends in good times and in bad, no matter what," Mr Obama said.
Mr Hollande is trying to rally support this week for a more coordinated international campaign to destroy Islamic State.
He is due to visit Moscow on Thursday.
"We are here today to declare that the United States and France stand united in total solidarity to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations," Mr Obama said.
Mr Obama called Islamic State a "barbaric terrorist group," adding that "its murderous ideology poses a serious threat to all of us. It cannot be tolerated. It must be destroyed. And we must do it together."
Belgium charges fifth suspect
Meanwhile, Belgium has charged a fifth person in connection with the attacks in Paris.
Last night, a Belgian anti-terrorism judge charged a fourth person in connection with the attacks.
That suspect was arrested in a series of police raids in Belgium on Sunday night along with 15 other people who were all released without charge, as authorities warned of a Paris-style plot facing Brussels.
Belgian officials have also this evening issued an international arrest warrant for a man seen driving a car with key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam two days before the atrocities.
Mohamed Abrini, 29, was filmed along with Abdeslam at a petrol station in Ressons on the motorway to Paris in a Renault Clio which was later used in the attacks, Belgium's federal prosecutor said in a statement.
Brussels will remain under the highest level of alert for another week due to an ongoing terrorism threat, but schools and the underground train system will reopen from tomorrow.
"The crisis centre decided to maintain the alert level four, which means the threat remains serious and imminent," Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said, adding the threat level will be reviewed again next Monday.
"We want to thank the people for their calm and understanding," he added.
The army and police will continue to be deployed in force and the country will reduce the number of events with large crowds, over fears of a repeat of the Paris attacks, he said.
But he added his government was trying to bring the country "back to normal as quickly as possible" while working with the security services.
"For schools, that means that in the coming hours, we will guarantee a level of security everywhere on the country's territory," the prime minister said.
"As for the metro, the aim is to reopen the metro gradually, but starting on Wednesday."
The rest of the country will remain on alert level three, which means an attack is considered possible and the threat credible.
Brussels has been locked down since Saturday with armed police and troops patrolling quiet streets.
US issues worldwide travel alert over terror fears
Meanwhile, the United States has issued a worldwide travel alert warning US citizens of "increased terrorist threats" in the wake of the Paris attacks.
"Current information suggests that ISIL (aka Daesh), Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram and other terrorist groups continue to plan terrorist attacks in multiple regions," said the State Department advisory.
The advisory cited recent attacks in Denmark, France, Mali, Nigeria and Turkey.
"US citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using transportation," it said, advising Americans to avoid large crowds or crowded places.
A US student was among the 130 people killed in the Paris attacks.
Elsewhere, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today called for greater intelligence sharing in Southeast Asia to stop a Paris-style attack.
"From an Australian perspective, we see a real risk that terrorist groups in the region might be inspired by attacks such as we have seen in Ankara, Beirut, Bamako and Paris and we are very mindful of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians visit Southeast Asia every year," he said.
Australia is conducting air strikes against Islamic State in Syria as part of a US-led coalition, which has led to threats of retaliatory attacks.
Security gates for cross-Europe train line
France will install security gates at stations in Paris and Lille for the Thalys cross-Europe services by 20 December, French minister Segolene Royal said today.
A gunman opened fire on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris in August, but was overpowered by passengers.
Ayoub El Khazzani had a Kalashnikov assault rife and other weapons. The 25-year-old has been charged with attempted murder of a terrorist nature.
Prosecutors said he was carrying 270 bullets for his assault rifle and a bottle of petrol, in addition to a Luger pistol and a box-cutter.
Separately, Jawad Bendaoud, the man who provided accommodation in the St Denis apartment to three people killed in a police raid there last week, will appear before an anti-terrorism judge today, a judicial source told Reuters.
Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin and the suspected orchestrator of the Paris attacks; Hasna Aitboulahcen, a woman police believe had links to Abaaoud, and a third unidentified person died in the raid.
