[LINK] On how the family of a Paris terrorist prayed for his death

[rfmcdonald]

The National Post shared Andrew Higgins and Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura's article in The New York Times noting how the family of a Paris terrorist wished him dead. That must be so hard.

When the family of Abdelhamid Abaaoud received word from Syria last fall that he had been killed fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant it rejoiced at what it took to be excellent news about a wayward son it had come to despise.

“We are praying that Abdelhamid really is dead,” his older sister, Yasmina, said at the time.

Their prayers — and the hopes of Western security officials — were not answered. Abaaoud, then 26, was in reality on his way back to Europe to meet secretly with Islamic extremists who shared his determination to spread mayhem. He has since been linked to a string of terrorist operations that culminated with Friday’s attacks in Paris.

Militant photo via APThis undated image made available in the Islamic State's English-language magazine Dabiq, shows Belgian Abdelhamid Abaaoud. .

“Of course, it is not joyous to make blood flow. But, from time to time, it is pleasant to see the blood of disbelievers,” Abaaoud declared in a French-language recruiting video for the ISIL released shortly before his supposed death.

During his travels back to Europe at the end of last year, European security services picked up his trail and tracked his cellphone to Athens, Greece, according to a retired European military official. But they lost him, and soon after that he appeared to have made it back to Belgium, where he had grown up in a moderately successful family from Morocco.