The Paris terrorist attacks were carried out with the help of three French brothers living in Belgium, and authorities are appealing to the public for help in finding one of them.

French police are appealing for help in locating Abdelham Salah. Photo: BBC

French authorities said on November 15 that they were searching for Abdeslam Salah, 26, describing him as dangerous. Police warned the public: "Do not attempt to act alone, under any circumstances." Belgian authorities said Salah's brother, Ibrahim, died in the three-hour massacre on the night of November 13 in Paris, which left at least 132 people dead. Another brother, Mohamed, was arrested on Saturday in the Molenbeek district of Brussels.

French President Hollande asserted that the coordinated attack on Friday night was the work of the Islamic State (IS).

French authorities initially reported eight attackers, but the following day they stated there were only seven, with six blowing themselves up and one shot dead by police. They said they were searching for an eighth attacker. It is unclear whether this individual was Salah.

Information has now emerged about four attackers. One, whose nationality is unknown, is a Syrian migrant. The Serbian newspaper Blic published a photo of a passport page showing the passport holder as Ahmad al-Mohammad, 25, from Idlib, Syria. He crossed the Greek island of Leros on October 3rd and the Serbian border at Presevo on October 7th, according to officials in those countries. It is unclear whether the passport is genuine or fake. The civil war has forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes, leading to a booming black market for counterfeit passports.

At least three of the attackers were French. Two lived in Brussels. The third was Ismaël Omar Mostefaï, 29, originally from Courcouronnes, France, and living in Chartres, about 100 km from Paris. He, along with two other gunmen, carried out the shooting that killed 89 people at the Bataclan theater.

Mostefaï was the third of five siblings, with an Algerian father and a Portuguese mother. According to an old neighbor in Chartres, Mostefaï used to work in a bakery.

"It was a normal family, just like everyone else," said an anonymous former neighbor of Mostefaï. "He played with the children, never talked about religion. He was normal. Always cheerful and laughed a lot."

The two vehicles used in the attack were rented in Belgium earlier last week, Belgian federal prosecutors said yesterday. The grey Volkswagen Polo was left at the Bataclan theater after being used by the three terrorists.

The black Seat Leon, found early yesterday morning on the outskirts of Paris, contained three Kalashnikov rifles. The car was used by the restaurant shooters to escape.

Belgian police also said they had arrested seven people.

According to VNE