PARIS (AP) — The latest on the deadly attacks in Paris. (All times local):

 A forensic expert walks from the scene in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm... (Associated Press)

 Paris is seen as French Police officers stand on guard near the church of Sacre Coeur, on top of the Montmartre hill, in Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew... (Associated Press)

 A French soldier patrols at the Sacre Coeur basilica in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm... (Associated Press)

 Hooded police officers detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a... (Associated Press)

 Hooded police officers detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a... (Associated Press)

 Soldiers operate in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation north... (Associated Press)

 This undated file photo provided by French Police shows 26-year old Salah Abdeslam, who is wanted by police in connection with recent terror attacks in Paris, as police investigations continue Friday,... (Associated Press)

 French soldiers patrol at the Sacre Coeur basilica in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm... (Associated Press)

 French soldiers patrol at the Sacre Coeur basilica in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm... (Associated Press)

 A man rides his bicycle in front of a makeshift memorial next to the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday... (Associated Press)

 An woman pays her respects at a makeshift memorial next to the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as... (Associated Press)

 An elderly woman lights up a candle a makeshift memorial next to the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday... (Associated Press)

 Policemen read messages which left at a makeshift memorial next to the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday... (Associated Press)

 Forensic experts examine the scene in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban... (Associated Press)

 A sign in a shop window reads Molenbeek with a peace sign, on the main shopping street of Molenbeek, Belgium on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. After a Wednesday morning raid in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis,... (Associated Press)

 Two people walk past the clothing shop owned by Omar Abaaoud, the father of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, in the town square of Molenbeek, Belgium on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. After a Wednesday morning raid in... (Associated Press)

 A sniper takes position on a church in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban... (Associated Press)

 French President Francois Hollande leaves the Elysee Palace after the weekly cabinet, in Paris.,Wednesday, Nov.18, 2015. Hollande earlier held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace to monitor the... (Associated Press)

 Police forces and soldiers patrol in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police... (Associated Press)

 Police forces arrest a man in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation... (Associated Press)

 Police forces arrest a man in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation... (Associated Press)

 Soldiers patrol in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation north... (Associated Press)

 Soldiers and police forces patrol in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police... (Associated Press)

 A soldier walks through Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation... (Associated Press)

 French President Francois Hollande leaves the Elysee Palace after the weekly cabinet, in Paris,Wednesday, Nov.18, 2015. Hollande earlier held an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace to monitor the raid... (Associated Press)

 Hooded police officers detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a... (Associated Press)

 Police forces prepare in St. Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Authorities in the Paris suburb of St. Denis are telling residents to stay inside during a large police operation... (Associated Press)

 Toys, photographs, flowers, candles and messages are left at a makeshift memorial next to the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, France, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest... (Associated Press)

 Police forces operate in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks, a man and a woman, have been killed in a police operation... (Associated Press)

 French police officers storm a church after a raid in Paris suburb Saint-Denis, Wednesday, Nov.18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried... (Associated Press)

 Forensic experts examine the scene in Saint-Denis, near Paris, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2015. A woman wearing an explosive suicide vest blew herself up Wednesday as heavily armed police tried to storm a suburban... (Associated Press)

 7:25 p.m.

 Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins says police fired some 5,000 rounds during an hour-long exchange of fire at a hideout where a terrorist cell had holed up north of the capital.

 Molins says heavily armed police squads initially were thwarted by a reinforced door to the apartment in Saint-Denis north of Paris where the terror cell had holed up, and faced nearly incessant fire as they worked to enter.

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 7:20 p.m.

 Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins says a terror cell neutralized in a massive police raid was ready to act.

 Molins told reporters the police assault in Saint-Denis north of Paris on Wednesday was connected with the terror attacks Friday in the capital against a concert hall, nightspots and the national soccer stadium.

 Two people were killed in the siege, including a woman who blew herself up, and seven others were arrested.

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 6:55 p.m.

 The head of Sweden's intelligence service SAPO says police are searching for a man who is wanted in connection with a terror probe.

 Anders Thornberg said Wednesday that police have launched "a preliminary investigation regarding preparation for a terrorist offense."

 He said the Swedish case was not linked to the Paris attacks.

 He said the suspect had entered Sweden this week, but declined to give any further details about the person.

 The agency said earlier Wednesday it has raised the Scandinavian country's terror alert to the second-highest level after it received "concrete information."

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 6:20 p.m.

 Moldovan border police say they have detained two Moldovan citizens trying to illegally enter Romania and travel onto France. Police said they carried a book that "propagated Islamic ideology."

 Police fired three warning shots Wednesday near the southwestern town of Cahul after the men, aged 19 and 26, tried to flee. Police said the men were carrying Islamic objects and a Russian-language version of the book "the Fortress of the Muslim."

 Police did not identify the men but said one had been convicted of murder and had converted to Islam in prison.

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 6:05 p.m.

 France's health minister says 195 people remain hospitalized after last Friday's terror attacks in Paris.

 Minister Marisol Touraine told Parliament on Wednesday that three of them are still in critical condition and 41 are in intensive care.

 France's justice minister updated the overall number of injured in the Paris attacks to 368 people, up from 352.

 Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which left 129 people dead.

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 5:55 p.m.

 Across Europe, the divide is deepening between those who see the massive migrant flow as a potential security threat that should be shut down and those who note that many refugees are the victims of Islamic extremism.

 In Poland, the town of Szamocin, which had defied an anti-migrant mood across the country to welcome Syrian refugees, has now retracted the invitation. Mayor Eugeniusz Kucner said on his town's website that "despite our sympathy for Syrian refugees, we cannot exclude that among them there will be terrorists."

 A new anti-migrant government in Poland, which took office this week, is also deeply unhappy about the previous government's decision to accept 7,000 refugees as part of a European plan. New government officials vow that asylum applications will be scrutinized carefully.

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 5:45 p.m.

 Italian Premier Matteo Renzi views Russia's push for a "grand coalition" to defeat the Islamic State group as a "a very right proposal."

 Renzi said he shares Russian President Vladimir Putin's urging that what's needed to combat IS is a grand coalition of countries, like one that came together in World War II to defeat Hitler.

 In an interview Wednesday on Italy's Sky TG24 TV, Renzi said bringing Russia into such an international coalition "would be very positive."

 Putin on Tuesday ordered a Russian missile cruiser in the Mediterranean to start cooperating with the French military on operations in Syria against IS.

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 5:35 p.m.

 Members of the band Eagles of Death Metal say they're home safe after the Paris attacks and "are horrified and still trying to come to terms with what happened."

 The U.S. band was to perform at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris last Friday when the deadly attacks occurred. Eighty-nine people were killed at the hall.

 They say Wednesday their "thoughts and hearts are first and foremost with our brother Nick Alexander, our record company comrades Thomas Ayad, Marie Mosser, and Manu Perez, and all the friends and fans whose lives were taken in Paris."

 The band, which released a new album last month, were on a European tour when the attacks occurred. They said all shows are on hold for now.

 The band also thanked "the French police, the FBI, the U.S. and French State Departments."

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 5:15 p.m.

 UEFA says all 40 matches in the Champions League and Europa League next week are scheduled to go ahead.

 UEFA confirmed its plans after the terror attacks in Paris and international friendly matches in Belgium and Germany were cancelled due to security alerts.

 No clubs have contacted UEFA about potential changes to matches for next Tuesday through Thursday. Still, UEFA is "working closely with the home clubs and local authorities to ensure all necessary measures are implemented to guarantee safety."

 Paris Saint-Germain plays next Wednesday at Swedish champion Malmo.

 The Monaco and Anderlecht teams have banned the Brussels club's fans from traveling for a Europa League match on Nov. 26.

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 5 p.m.

 French lawmakers are paying tribute to police and security forces involved in the raid of a suburban Paris apartment where the suspected mastermind of last week's deadly attacks in Paris was believed to be hiding.

 Claude Bartolone, president of France's lower house of the Parliament, on Wednesday praised them for their "determination, efficiency and speed" while put to a severe test. Before a standing ovation, Bartolone then expressed France's gratitude and admiration for "their courage."

 The siege ended Wednesday with two deaths and seven arrests but no clear information on the fugitive's fate.

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 4:55 p.m.

 Italy's president says terrorism is attacking "our Europe" and calls the recent attacks on the continent "an attempt at global war by unprecedented methods."

 President Sergio Mattarella, Italy's head of state, also called on Europeans to "be united, determined and together in affirming the principles of our humanism." He was speaking Wednesday at a ceremony in Florence, the cradle of Italy's artistic and architectural Renaissance.

 Mattarella, a constitutional law expert, said security for Europe's citizens must be guaranteed "without renouncing freedoms gained."

 He says "we cannot eradicate hate by making it enter into our lives and our civilization."

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 4:45 p.m.

 The Islamic State group again has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris, vowing in its online English-language magazine to continue its attacks.

 The magazine, released Wednesday, included the threat: "The Islamic State will continue to stand firm in the face of their transgressions and retaliate with fire and bloodshed in revenge for the honor of the Prophet (Muhammad) and the multitudes killed and injured in crusader airstrikes."

 The magazine also included a claim that the group killed a Chinese and a Norwegian hostage and photographs of the bomb that it said brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31.

 Friday's night of terror in Paris killed 129 people and wounded over 350 others.

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 4:15 p.m.

 A man who says he lives in the apartment raided by French SWAT teams says he let some people stay there as a favor and "didn't know they're terrorists."

 Jawad Bendaoud, who was detained during Wednesday's raid on suspects linked to last week's Paris attacks, spoke to BFMTV as he was being led away by police.

 Speaking outside the building in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, he says "I learned it was at my place, and the individuals barricaded themselves in my place ...I didn't know they're terrorists."

 He said someone had "asked me to put some people up for two, three days, and I provided this service."

 He says "I don't know where they come from ... If I would have known, I wouldn't have let them stay."

 Bendaoud's lawyer confirmed the man in the footage was his client, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for killing his best friend in a 2006 fight.

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 4:05 p.m.

 France's secretary of sport says soccer matches around the country are going ahead this weekend despite the deadly terror attacks in Paris because "life must go on."

 Thierry Braillard said in an interview Wednesday with the sports daily L'Equipe that suspending games would be "exactly what these barbarians want." He said French league President Frederic Thiriez is "totally" in agreement with the decision.

 Friday's night of terror in Paris killed 129 people and injured 350 others, leading to the cancellation of sporting events around Paris and other cities last weekend.

 The French first division resumes Friday evening when Lyon travels to Nice.

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 4 p.m.

 Sweden's security service says it has raised the Scandinavian country's terror alert to the second-highest level.

 SAPO said Wednesday it had received "concrete information" and has decided to act "with the framework of our contra-terror work."

 The agency said it had raised the alert to level four of five possible graduations. It did not elaborate but a news conference was planned for later Wednesday.

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 3:55 p.m.

 Britain says one of the Royal Navy's most advanced warships will support a French aircraft carrier as it deploys to the Gulf to fight the Islamic State group.

 Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says the HMS Defender will provide air defense cover for France's Charles de Gaulle carrier, which has left Toulon to help French operations in Syria against IS.

 The Defender, with 230 crew, is on a nine-month deployment to the Middle East. The Royal Navy says can defend a group of ships against attack from the air, either by aircraft or missiles.

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 3:50 p.m.

 There has been a visible increase in security around the Vatican following the Paris attacks and ahead of Pope Francis' big Jubilee Year, which opens Dec. 8.

 Francis' personal security detail was nearly doubled during his Wednesday general audience, and the carabinieri were out in force in St. Peter's Square.

 Italy is already planning to close the airspace over Rome during special Jubilee celebrations. Rome's prefect, Franco Gabrielli, said Wednesday authorities were prepared to shoot down drones and ultralight aircraft if they violate the air space ban.

 Millions of pilgrims are expected to descend on Rome for various celebrations over the course of the Jubilee year. Already, the government has added 700 extra soldiers for the capital.

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 3:40 p.m.

 The Slovak government is planning to tighten anti-terrorist legislation following the attacks in Paris.

 Prime Minister Robert Fico says Wednesday that changes to anti-terror laws should be discussed by his government next week, and should include limiting rights of terror suspects.

 Fico says: "It is our duty to preventively have as soon as possible clear and strict anti-terror legislation." Fico also says the intelligence services and police force should be given more powers and the country will increase the number of police in special forces as well policemen.

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 3:20 p.m.

 Overnight raids by French police across France have resulted in 25 arrests and the seizure of 34 weapons.

 The new tally was announced Wednesday by the Interior Ministry.

 The arrests are the latest in a nationwide police dragnet that has seen nightly raids by security forces under powers granted by the state of emergency declared after last week's attacks in Paris.

 In all, French police have carried out 414 raids and made 60 arrests while seizing 75 weapons since Friday. The captured armory includes 11 military-style firearms, 33 rifles and 31 handguns. In addition to dozens of arrests, 118 more people have been placed under house arrest in another of the new powers permitted under France's state of emergency.

 Parliament is expected to extend the state of emergency for three months later this week.

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 2:40 p.m.

 A Spanish security official says French authorities have sent out a bulletin to police across Europe asking them to watch out for a Citroen Xsara car that could be carrying Salah Abdeslam, the fugitive wanted in the Paris attacks

 The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of department rules preventing the official from being named.

 Spain's El Espanol digital publication first reported the bulletin Wednesday, publishing a document with the car's description and naming Abdeslam. It was sent by Spanish authorities to border control police in the northeastern Catalonia region next to France.

 The security official said the bulletin was sent to authorities across Europe, not only to Spain.

 — By Ciaran Giles in Madrid.

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 2:20 p.m.

 Danish police have called off a bomb scare at Copenhagen's international airport that prompted an hour-long evacuation of hundreds of passengers.

 Police rushed Wednesday to Terminal 3, the main arrival and departure terminal for the Nordic region's hub, after "a suspicious bag" had been spotted.

 However, it was "an overheard conversation about a bomb" that sparked the evacuation, police said on Twitter. Bomb experts, fire trucks, police and ambulances were seen parked outside.

 Commuter train and subway lines to the airport also were briefly halted. The airport said Terminal 3 was reopened but check-ins had been moved to Terminal 2 and delays were to be expected.

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 2:15 p.m.

 French President Francois Hollande says any places where people are "glorifying terrorism" will be shut down.

 A bill to extend France's state of emergency for three months includes a measure that enables authorities to close "any association or gathering" — which notably includes mosques and community groups— that would encourage people to carry out terrorist acts.

 The bill is to be debated by both houses of Parliament on Thursday and Friday and expected to be voted on by the end of the week.

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 2:05 p.m.

 British Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed that three Britons wounded in the Paris attacks have been released from the hospital and returned to the U.K.

 Cameron told lawmakers Wednesday that another 15 are being treated for trauma by the Foreign Office and the Red Cross. He did not provide any further details.

 One Briton, 36-year-old Nick Alexander, was earlier confirmed killed in the Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris. In all, 129 people died in the Paris attacks last week that Islamic State militants claimed to have orchestrated.

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 2 p.m.

 Turkey's military says a suspected Islamic State militant has been killed while trying to illegally cross into Turkey from Syria.

 A brief military statement on Wednesday said the incident occurred a day earlier, in Kilis province, which borders Syria. It said 21 other people were also detained during the incident, nine of them children.

 Turkey has reinforced its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria and has tightened controls in a bid to stem infiltrations by extremists.

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 1:55 p.m.

 President Francois Hollande says France will not "cede to fear" and is urging his compatriots to go back out to cafes and museums and live life to its fullest.

 He says "what would our country be without its cafes, concerts, sport events, museums?" Hollande was speaking to mayors from around the country Wednesday, after the country's deadliest violence in decades last week.

 The French leader says "life must resume in full," and is promising extra security to ensure that museums can reopen and "our tourists can be welcomed."

 Islamic suicide bombers killed at least 129 people in attacks Friday night on a concert hall, cafes and France's national stadium.

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 1:45 p.m.

 Jordan's monarch is optimistic the world will come together to fight terror in the wake of the Paris attacks, noting they were only the latest in a series of attacks that represent a global threat.

 Abdullah II says the Paris killings are another example of the need to fight "a global war against terror." He says 100,000 Muslims have been killed by IS in Syria and Iraq over the past year, adding the world needs a "holistic approach" on dealing with the terrorist scourge.

 The king spoke to reporters Wednesday while on a visit to Austria.

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 1:35 p.m.

 Authorities say the main terminal at Copenhagen's international airport, the Nordic region's main hub, has been evacuated because of "a suspicious bag."

 Police had no more details about Wednesday's evacuation of Terminal 3, the main arrival and departure terminal. Television footage shows bomb experts, fire trucks and police outside the airport building.

 The commuter train and subway lines to and from the airport were also halted.

 As of late October, more than 22.6 million people have so far this year traveled through the Copenhagen airport.

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 1:25 p.m.

 French President Francois Hollande says France is 'at war' against terrorism by the Islamic State group.

 Hollande says he wants "large coalition" working together against IS militants to destroy a group that threatens the whole world and "commits massacres" in the Mideast.

 Hollande says "we are at war." He was speaking in a televised address Wednesday after a seven-hour police siege on an apartment north of Paris where police suspected the mastermind of the deadly Paris attacks might have been.

 He says the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle just left to help French military operations in Syria against IS.

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 1:05 p.m.

 German Chancellor Angela Merkel says security agencies made the right decision to cancel the soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands due to attack fears.

 The Tuesday night friendly match in Hannover was called off 90 minutes before the kickoff after German authorities received mounting information about a possible attack on the stadium.

 Merkel and several members of her Cabinet had been due to attend the match to demonstrate that Germany wouldn't bow to terror following the deadly attacks in Paris.

 Merkel said Wednesday "I was just as sad as millions of fans that this cancellation had to happen, but the security agencies took a responsible decision."

 She said "these are difficult decisions, possibly the most difficult decisions between freedom and security. But yesterday it was taken in favor of security, and that's right."

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 12:50 p.m.

 A father's heartwarming explanation to his son about the Paris terror attacks is electrifying social media, with more than 27 million views on Facebook alone.

 The video shows an interview conducted by a reporter for France's Le Petit Journal in a Paris square where people are laying flowers and lighting candles to honor the 129 victims killed in the attacks.

 The child tells the reporter the attacks were conducted by "bad guys" who were "not very nice." He then expresses fear that his family will be forced to move, although his father reassures him they won't because there are "bad guys everywhere."

 With his arm around his son, the father refers to the crowd at the square, and says, "It's OK. They might have guns, but we have flowers."

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 12:45 p.m.

 The French government says all 129 people killed in attacks Friday on a Paris stadium, a concert hall and cafes have been identified.

 A statement released after Wednesday's Cabinet meeting says about 100 families have come to see the bodies.

 At least 350 people were also wounded in the Paris attacks, with scores of people still critically injured. The death toll may still rise if some of the wounded do not recover.

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 12:30 p.m.

 Paris prosecutor Francois Molins says authorities are working to determine the fate of the suspected mastermind of last week's Paris attacks after a seven-hour police raid on an apartment where he was believed to be hiding.

 Francois Molins says the police began the raid Wednesday after gathering information that suspect Abdelhamid Abaaoud could be in a safe house apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

 Molins said the information was collected from tapped telephone conversations, surveillance and witness accounts.

 He told reporters in Saint-Denis after the operation was over that authorities are still working to determine who was inside. Seven people were arrested and two suspects were killed.

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 12:05 p.m.

 A White House official says President Barack Obama has been briefed on the law enforcement operation in a suburb of Paris. This is a French law enforcement operation, but the president asked to be updated, the official said.

 Obama is in Manila for an economic summit. The official was not authorized to discuss the briefing further.

 A French government spokesman says a seven-hour police operation north of Paris targeting the mastermind of the deadly Paris attacks and his accomplices, has ended. He says two people were killed in the operation and seven arrested.

 — Kathleen Hennessey in Manila.

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 noon

 Turkey's state-run news agency says authorities have detained eight people at Istanbul's main airport who they suspect could be Islamic State militants planning to make their way to Germany, posing as refugees.

 The Anadolu Agency said Wednesday the eight arrived in Istanbul from Casablanca, Morocco, and were interviewed by criminal profiling teams at Ataturk Airport. Citing police sources, the agency said one of the suspects had a hand-drawn picture of a planned route from Turkey to Germany, via Greece, Serbia and Hungary.

 Anadolu said the eight claimed to be tourists visiting Istanbul but a hotel refuted claims they had reservations there.

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 11:50 a.m.

 French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll says a seven-hour police operation north of Paris targeting the mastermind of the Paris attacks and his accomplices, has ended.

 Le Foll spoke to reporters in the presidential palace after a Cabinet meeting, saying "the operation is over."

 Police say two people were killed in the operation Wednesday including a female suicide bomber. Several police were injured and seven people were arrested.

 The fate of the suspected mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is unclear.

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 11:40 a.m.

 Police say a police dog was killed in the siege of an apartment where some of the Paris attackers are thought to be holed up.

 The National Police said in a tweet that a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois named Diesel, a SWAT team assault dog, was "killed by terrorists" during the raid in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.

 Police say two suspects have died in the ongoing assault, one of them a female suicide bomber. Seven people have been arrested in the apartment building. Several police officers were slightly injured.

 The raid is targeting perpetrators of Friday's deadly gun-and-bomb attacks in Paris that killed 129 people.

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 11:30 a.m.

 Police have escorted out children and others from the scene of a big police standoff with suspects in last week's Paris attacks.

 A woman in a purple headscarf wept while carrying a child. A man next to her carried another child wearing pink, and an older boy walked near them.

 It is unclear whether they had been in the building where two people have been killed, several police slightly injured and seven people arrested since the standoff began seven hours ago.

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 11:20 a.m.

 Armed security officers have fanned out around the historic Paris suburb of Saint-Denis during an hours-long standoff with police.

 Journalists, cameramen, police and curious residents waited nervously in the central Place Victor Hugo, as sirens echoed around the neighborhood.

 It contrasted with the serenity of the Saint-Denis Basilica — one of the world's most majestic gothic churches — that towers over the area. Its famed stone tower was lit up beautifully in the unusually sunny November morning.

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 11:15 a.m.

 Officials say seven people have been arrested in a raid on an apartment building where suspects in last week's Paris attacks were holed up.

 A senior police official and the Paris prosecutor's office say that the seven were arrested Wednesday in the building in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

 They did not identify those detained.

 Authorities believe there may still be someone still hiding in an apartment.

 A loud bang rang out in the streets adjacent to the building around the time of the latest arrests.

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 11 a.m.

 The governor of Lower Saxony is reassuring Germans after the cancellation of a soccer game over terrorism concerns that "the security situation is stable" in the northern state.

 Stephan Weil said Wednesday he knew people were worried, but asked "all to trust in the security authorities."

 State Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said Tuesday night's Germany vs Netherlands match in Hannover was nixed at short notice after "vague" information that solidified late in the day.

 He wouldn't give details, saying the "more concrete information we give the more likely it is to reveal the source."

 He says it's possible no arrests were made and no explosives were found because the plot was called off after the game was canceled.

 Pistorius says "we won't know what would have happened if we didn't cancel it."

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 10:40 a.m.

 A bill to extend France's state of emergency for three months is being presented to a Cabinet meeting.

 French president Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency for 12 days following Friday night's attacks. Parliament must approve extending it.

 The bill is to be debated in the Cabinet on Wednesday, the lower house on Thursday and at the Senate on Friday.

 The state of emergency extends some police powers of search and arrest and limits public gatherings, among other changes.

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 10:25 a.m.

 Austria's interior ministry says a Belgian suspect sought in the Paris attacks was on an EU-wide police list when he was stopped in Austria in September, and his presence in the country was reported back to Belgian authorities.

 Ministry official Karl-Heinz Gruendboeck says Belgium had registered Salah Abdeslam in the Schengen Information System on suspicion of unidentified criminal activity.

 He said Wednesday Austrian police reported his presence to Belgian police.

 Officials earlier said Abdeslam entered Austria from Germany Sept. 9 with two unidentified companions and they were stopped for a routine traffic check. They said they were planning a vacation in Vienna,

 Abdeslam, 26, is the suspected driver of a group of gunmen in the Paris attacks. His brother, Brahim, was among the suicide bombers and killed one civilian after blowing himself up outside a restaurant.

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 10:10 a.m.

 French President Francois Hollande is holding an emergency meeting at the Elysee Palace to monitor the raid on a suburban Paris apartment.

 Prime Minister Manuel Valls, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Justice Minister Christiane Taubira are meeting with the president.

 A Cabinet meeting is to be held on Wednesday morning as previously scheduled, according to the French presidency.

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 9:30 a.m.

 A police official says that one person is still holed up in an apartment north of Paris after an hours-long standoff with police in which two have been killed and five arrested.

 The official, not authorized to be publicly named according to police rules, said the standoff is still going on after some five hours.

 The person's identity has not been released. Authorities say the operation is targeting the mastermind of last week's Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people.

 — By Philippe Sotto

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 9:20 a.m.

 Denmark's National Police say it has raised its internal alert level, adding the Scandinavian country's intelligence agency's overall terror threat assessment has not been changed and remains "serious."

 Police says the reason for stepping up the alertness to "significant elevated preparedness" is "a result of the current uncertain situation in several European countries."

 In Wednesday's statement, the police said the change is only internal, and citizens will not notice any changes.

 In February, a lone gunman attacked a free speech event and a synagogue that left two people dead and wounded five in Copenhagen. The shooter Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein was killed in a shootout with a SWAT team.

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 9 a.m.

 The Paris prosecutor's office says that SWAT teams have arrested three people in an apartment where police are in a standoff with suspects in last week's Paris attacks.

 In a statement, the prosecutor's office says that the three haven't been identified yet.

 Another man and woman were detained near the apartment, the statement says. It says the standoff is ongoing.

 Two people have been killed in the standoff, including a woman suicide bomber who blew herself up, the prosecutor said.

 ___

 8:40 a.m.

 A French police official says a woman wearing an explosive suicide vest has blown herself up in a standoff between police and suspects in last week's Paris attacks.

 The official said she is among two people killed in the ongoing standoff in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. The official, not authorized to be publicly named because of police rules, said four police officers have been injured. No hostages are being held.

 Police have said the operation Wednesday is targeting the suspected orchestrator of last week's attacks, holed up in an apartment in Saint-Denis with other armed people.

 —By Jamey Keaten

 ___

 8:20 a.m.

 Police say two suspects in last week's Paris attacks — a man and a woman — have been killed in a police operation north of the capital.

 An official with the Paris police department who was not authorized to be publicly named said two people have been detained, and two police officers injured in the standoff Wednesday in Saint-Denis.

 Police have said the operation is targeting the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks, believed to be holed up in an apartment in Saint-Denis with several other heavily armed suspects.

 — By Jamey Keaten

 ___

 7:55 a.m.

 A senior French police official says a large police operation north of Paris is targeting the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

 The official says authorities believe Abaaoud is holed up in an apartment in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, along with up to five other heavily armed people.

 The official, who was not authorized to be publicly named according to police rules but is informed routinely about the operation, says that scores of police who stormed the building early Wednesday were met with unexpectedly violent resistance. Reinforcements were summoned and several people were injured.

 ___

 7:45 a.m.

 Authorities in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis have evacuated about 20 residents from a building where suspects linked to the Paris attacks are holed up in a standoff with police.

 A city official not authorized to be publicly named told The Associated Press the residents were brought to city hall for protection. City hall is about 200 meters (yards) from the apartment building where the standoff is taking place on rue du Cornillon, in the heart of the historic, multicultural town just north of Paris.

 The site is less than 2 kilometers (about a mile) from the Stade de France national stadium. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up Friday near the stadium during an international soccer match with French President Francois Hollande in attendance.

 Saint-Denis is one of France's most historic places. French kings were crowned and buried through the centuries in its famed basilica. Today it is home to a vibrant and very ethnically diverse population and sees sporadic tension between police and violent youths.

 ___

 7:35 a.m.

 At least seven explosions have been heard at the scene of a police standoff with suspects in last week's deadly Paris attacks.

 Associated Press reporters at the scene could hear what sounded like grenade blasts from the direction of the standoff in the heart of the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

 The source of the blasts is unclear. Police say several people are holed up in an apartment and several police have been injured in an operation that has lasted at least three hours on Wednesday morning.

 ___

 7:20 a.m.

 A resident of the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis describes intense gunfire and explosions during a police operation near the site of one of last week's deadly attacks.

 Baptiste Marie, a 26-year-old independent journalist who lives near the scene of the standoff, tells The Associated Press: "It started with an explosion. Then there was second big explosion. Then two more explosions. There was an hour of gunfire."

 Resident Amine Guizani, 21, says: "There were grenades. It was going, stopping. Kalashnikovs. Starting again."

 Riot police were clearing the streets early Wednesday, pointing guns at curious residents to move them off the roads.

 Marie said the officers seemed nervous.

 "You could see it in their eyes, " Marie said.

 ___

 6:55 a.m.

 Police say anti-terrorist officers are raiding an apartment in a north Paris suburb where several men are holed up.

 The Paris police department says officers have exchanged gunfire with the suspects and several police have been injured. The extent of their injuries is unknown.

 It's unclear whether there are injuries among the suspects.

 Police reinforcements are arriving at the scene in Saint-Denis.

 ___

 6:27 a.m.

 Police vans and fire trucks are rushing to the scene of a SWAT team operation in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis that is linked to the deadly Paris attacks.

 A helicopter is flying overhead at dawn Wednesday.

 French television BFM and i-Tele say that the suspects are inside an apartment building.

 Police have cordoned off the area nearby, including a pedestrian zone lined with shops and 19th-century apartment buildings.

 Neighborhood resident Fabien Crombe said on BFM television that gunshots have repeatedly broken out since the police operation began, punctuated by silence and the sound of sirens.

 Saint-Denis Mayor Didier Paillard said transport has been stopped and schools in the center of town will not open Wednesday.

 ___

 6:15 a.m.

 Authorities in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis are telling residents to stay inside during a large police operation near France's national stadium that two officials say is linked to last week's deadly attacks.

 Deputy Mayor Stephane Peu told i-Tele television that there have been many gun shots and detonations in the operation that began at 4:25 a.m. (0325 GMT) Wednesday on rue de la Republique in the center of Saint-Denis.

 The site is less than two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Stade de France, targeted by three suicide bombers during Friday's attacks.

 He urged residents to stay home, saying "it is not a new attack but a police intervention."

 Two officials say police operation now underway is connected to the investigation into Friday's attacks that killed 129 people. ||||| Gunfire broke out in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early Wednesday as police pursued suspects from the terror attacks of Nov. 13. Witnesses documented the flood of police into the historic suburb as the raid grew. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

 The suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks was killed Wednesday in a massive pre-dawn raid by French police commandos, two senior European officials said, after investigators followed leads that the fugitive Islamic State militant was holed up north of the French capital and could be plotting another wave of violence.

 More than 100 police officers and soldiers stormed an apartment building in Saint-Denis, a bustling suburb home to many immigrants, during a seven-hour siege that left at least two people dead, officials said. The dead included the suspected overseer of the Paris bloodshed, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, according to the two senior European officials. Abaaoud, a Belgian extremist, had once boasted that he could slip easily between Europe and strongholds of the Islamic State militant group in Syria.

 [LIVE updates from Paris and elsewhere]

 Paris prosecutor François Molins, speaking to reporters hours after the siege, said he could not provide the identities of the people killed at the scene. A French security official declined to confirm or deny that Abaaoud had died. U.S. officials said they were awaiting confirmation of the identities of those slain.

 The two European officials from different countries, who have followed the case closely, said they had received the information about Abaaoud’s death from French authorities. The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

 It was not immediately clear how Abaaoud died — whether in police gunfire, by his own hand or in a suicide blast triggered by a woman in the apartment.

 [How officials may have missed their chance to stop Paris terror suspects ]

 After the raid, forensics experts combed through blown-out windows and floors collapsed by explosions, presumably seeking DNA and other evidence.

 Molins said a discarded cellphone helped identify safe houses used by attackers to plan Friday’s coordinated assaults, which killed 129 people and wounded more than 350 in a series of attacks at a stadium, a concert hall and restaurants across Paris.

 Molins said police launched the raid after receiving a witness tip suggesting that Abaaoud was “entrenched” on the third floor of the Saint-Denis building. He said that neither Abaaoud nor another wanted suspect, Salah Abdeslam, was among eight people who were arrested at the apartment and surrounding locations on Wednesday. Three people were arrested in the raid itself, one of whom suffered a gunshot wound in the arm, he said.

 Molins said the sophisticated militant cell used three safe houses around Paris — including the Saint-Denis apartment — and three rental cars to launch the attack. It was “a huge logistics plan, meticulously carried out,” he said.

 Abaaoud was the target of a major dragnet in the international search — which stretches from Belgium to Syria — for suspects in Friday’s carnage.

 Supporters of the Islamic State, the extremist group whose vast domain straddles Syria and Iraq, have vowed to inflict repeated attacks on the West, including in Europe.

 The raid was in part a response to what French officials thought was a plan to stage a follow-up terrorist attack in La Defense, a financial district northwest of Paris, two police officials and an investigator close to the investigation said. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief members of the media.

 Seven men and one woman were arrested Wednesday in Saint-Denis, Molins said.

 Five days after the worst violence on French soil since World War II, European nations remained on edge, enhancing vigilance against possible attacks by Islamist militants who have promised to bring the brutal tactics employed in Iraq and Syria to the West.

 [Why French airstrikes on ISIS’s ‘capital’ probably haven’t done much ]

 President François Hollande, seeking to reassure French citizens unnerved by the bloodshed on the streets of Paris, said the attacks would not alter the French way of life.

 “We are at war against terrorism, terrorism which declared war on us,” Hollande said at a meeting of French mayors. “It is the [Islamic State] jihadist organization. It has an army. It has financial resources. It has oil. It has a territory.

 “It has allies in Europe, including in our country,” he continued, “with young, radicalized Islamist people. It committed atrocities there and wants to kill here. It has killed here.”

 He renewed his case to extend a state of emergency decreed after the attacks and to make changes to the constitution that he said would make France safer.

 Jean-Michel Fauvergue, chief of the elite police unit that carried out Wednesday’s raid, said the operation began at 4:16 a.m. with an attempt to blast open the third-floor apartment door with explosives. But the reinforced door would not open properly, and the element of surprise was lost, he said. The terrorists inside then blocked the door with a heavy object.

 French media identified the suicide bomber as Hasna Aitboulahcen, a cousin of Abaaoud’s. The 26-year-old French citizen is a former manager of Beko Construction, a company in Epinay-sur-Seine, a town north of Saint-Denis. The company closed down in 2014.

 Fauvergue said hundreds of shots were exchanged and each side threw projectiles.

 As the raid progressed, heavily armed police clad in military gear — some with their faces covered by balaclavas — moved quickly through the dark streets, while sharpshooters were posted on nearby buildings. Helicopters scanned from the skies, and police used a drone and two robots to conduct surveillance. For hours, traffic and public transportation were halted, and schools were shuttered.

 Authorities say as many as 20 people may have been involved in the plot to attack Paris. Here's what we know about them so far. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

 Uthayaseelan Sanmugan, a 38-year-old cook who lives near the targeted apartment, said he woke up at 4:30 a.m. to the sound of gunfire, went to his window and saw the lights from weapons outside.

 “When I got to the street, I saw a lot of blood on the sidewalk. The blood of the terrorists.”

 Residents were evacuated or instructed to stay inside their homes.

 “I heard gunshots and, sometime around 7 a.m., a huge blast, an explosion,” said Kelly Ovo, a 45-year-old day laborer who lives close to the apartment that was under siege.

 French police reported that a 7-year-old police dog named Diesel was “killed by the terrorists” in the raid.

 Abaaoud, an ardent Islamic State supporter linked to several other terrorist attempts, was believed to be in Syria earlier this year. But some officials speculated earlier this week that he could have returned to Europe, perhaps passing undetected among the flood of asylum seekers pouring into Greek islands from Turkey.

 The siege appeared to have been aided by another potential breakthrough in the probe: the discovery of a mobile phone in a garbage can near the Bataclan concert hall, the site of one of Friday’s assaults.

 The phone’s data contained a map of the music venue, which was the target of the most deadly attack last week. French media reported that the phone contained a chilling text message sent shortly after the first gunman entered: “Let’s go, we’re starting.”

 [The mystery surrounding the Paris bomber with a fake Syrian passport ]

 The information on the phone opened fresh leads, including to an apartment southeast of Paris in Alfortville, according to Mediapart, a French news outlet.

 French officials have cast a wide net in the hunt for suspects in Friday’s attacks. Across France, 118 additional raids were conducted overnight on Tuesday, yielding at least 25 arrests. That brought to 414 the number of raids launched throughout France since Friday, the Interior Ministry said.

 The attacks deepened questions about European intelligence agencies’ ability to prevent militant violence. According to Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor, Belgian federal police interrogated Brahim Abdeslam, one of the Paris attackers, in February after he returned from Turkey.

 Belgian federal police also questioned Brahim’s brother Salah, who they knew had been radicalized, Van Der Sypt said. But Belgian officials said there was no indication that the brothers were going to get involved with terrorism, so they were released.

 Across Europe, officials remained on high alert Wednesday. In Copenhagen, a terminal at the Danish capital’s international airport was briefly evacuated after “an overheard conversation about a bomb,” police said in a Twitter post. The terminal later reopened.

 Countries, including Sweden and Italy, raised terror alerts. At the Vatican, extra security was posted in St. Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis addressed pilgrims.

 On Tuesday, authorities in Hanover, Germany, abruptly called off a friendly soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands that Chancellor Angela Merkel had planned to attend, officials said.

 Turmoil continued elsewhere in France on Wednesday when a history teacher at a Jewish school in Marseille was stabbed by three men. Brice Robin, the Marseille prosecutor, said one of the attackers had an Islamic State T-shirt. The teacher received medical aid and appeared to be in stable condition.

 Also in Marseille, a young veiled Muslim woman was attacked by a man who punched her and wielded a box cutter. She was taken to an emergency room.

 Since last week’s attacks, Hollande has vowed a withering French response. On Tuesday, France invoked a European Union mutual aid pact that calls for members of the bloc to assist other member states if they are attacked, a historic if largely symbolic move.

 [The bombs exploded, and France’s president called it ‘war’. It was 1986. ]

 Daniela Deane in London, Virgile Demoustier, Emily Badger and Karla Adam in Paris, and Loveday Morris in Baghdad contributed to this report.

 1 of 32 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × See photos of deadly police raid in France View Photos Two terrorism suspects are dead after the pre-dawn raid in Saint-Denis. Caption Two terrorism suspects are dead after the pre-dawn raid in Saint-Denis. Nov. 19, 2015 French crime scene investigators are seen outside the rue du Corbillon building in Saint-Denis, a northern Paris suburb. Christophe Petit Tesson/European Pressphoto Agency Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

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 The long war against Islamist extremism has become more complicated than ever ||||| Paris (AFP) - The fate of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks, remained unknown Wednesday after a massive police assault on his alleged hideout, the city's prosecutor said.

 Paris prosecutor Francois Molins outlined a seven-hour raid of an "extreme difficulty" which saw police fire nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition in a battle with a group holed up in two apartments.

 A gargantuan probe undertaken since the Friday attacks saw police pore over video footage, telephone surveillance and witness reports which led them to the apartment in the poor multi-ethnic suburb of Saint-Denis.

 Molins said a witness report received Monday led investigators to believe that Abaaoud, a known Belgian jihadist believed to be in Syria, was in fact on French territory.

 "This is an individual suspected of being the instigator of a large number of attacks in Europe," said Molins.

 Wary about the report, investigators ran "numerous telephonic and bank verifications," he added.

 View gallery Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins holds a press conference in Paris on November 18, 2015 (AFP Photo/A …

 The police assault was launched at 4:20am (0320 GMT), putting Saint-Denis on lockdown as helicopters buzzed in the sky and snipers took up position on rooftops.

 However police immediately ran into difficulty.

 "The reinforced door of the apartment at first resisted explosives laid by RAID (anti-terror police) which allowed the terrorists to prepare their riposte," said Molins.

 "Very sustained gunfire continued for nearly an hour," he said, adding that "the complex nature of the operation required the use of assault rifles, snipers and explosives."

 The operation was further complicated by an explosion -- later determined to be a woman who "detonated an explosives vest"-- and damage done to the building which led to the collapse of part of the floor.

 View gallery Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian suspected of orchestrating the Paris attacks, pictured in a February …

 Another body "riddled with bullets" was found in the debris, but the state of the corpse did not allow for it to be identified.

 Therefore, Molins said: "I am not able to give you a precise number and identity of those killed. There are at least two dead and verifications will likely take longer than expected" due to the state of the apartment building.

 "A new team of terrorists was neutralised and all indications are that given their arms, their organisational structure and their determination, the commando could have struck," he said.

 Three suspects were arrested inside the building, while outside police took into custody a man who lent the apartment to the jihadists and a woman accompanying him.

 Two men were arrested after being found in the rubble.

 An eighth man, who was injured and found outside, was also taken into custody believed to have been involved in providing the apartment.

 The vast probe also led police to discover a cellphone belonging to one of the attackers in a dustbin outside the Bataclan music venue, scene of the worst violence, where 89 people were gunned down.

 A total of 129 people were killed and 350 injured in the attacks.

 The phone showed one of the gunmen had sent a message saying "we're ready, let's go."

 The message was sent at 9:42 pm, before the attack on the Bataclan, Molins said, adding that police were investigating who the message was sent to.

 "We can say that a massive logistical operation was meticulously put in place by these terrorists," said Molins. |||||

Write a summary.

– Paris prosecutor Francois Molins gave new details on the police raid on an alleged ISIS terror cell just north of Paris in a press conference Wednesday. Some highlights : Molins said about 5,000 rounds were fired by police during an hourlong gunfight between heavily armed police and those inside the Saint-Denis hideout, the AP reports. Investigators found "a total war arsenal" of Kalashnikovs, ammo, and explosives, per the Guardian. Law enforcement was bombarded with gunfire as they tried to fight their way in through a reinforced door, the AP notes. There's confusion whether alleged mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud was among those killed in the raid. Molins said during the press conference that two suspects were dead and eight arrested, though he said he can't yet ID them, per the Guardian. He added that neither Abaaoud nor Salah Abdeslam were among those arrested. But two anonymous senior EU intelligence officials tell the Washington Post that Abaaoud was indeed killed during the siege and that forensic experts had gathered evidence at the scene after the chaos had ended. The suspected terror cell was caught just in time, per authorities. "A new team of terrorists was neutralized and all indications are that given their arms, their organizational structure, and their determination, the commando could have struck," Molins said, per AFP.


Many Afghan army units are running out of key equipment, including Humvees, because of their inability to do repairs or find replacements.

 Oct. 9, 2013 Many Afghan army units are running out of key equipment, including Humvees, because of their inability to do repairs or find replacements. Javier Manzano/For The Washington Post

 After a tough fighting season, Afghan soldiers are finding that a significant portion of their vital equipment is broken and cannot be easily replaced.

 Their fighting season nearly over, members of an embattled Afghan army unit recently inspected their equipment, most of which was in two heaps on their base. There were Humvees shredded by roadside bombs, armored trucks damaged by rocket-propelled grenades and other vehicles in need of repair after hard use in one of the country’s most volatile areas.

 The Afghan soldiers could not fix any of them, and replacements hadn’t come. Seventy-five percent of the battalion’s armored vehicles were out of commission. There were so few Humvees that some soldiers walked for 20 hours to get from base to base.

 “How can we fight a war like this?” asked Col. Hamidullah, the battalion commander, who like many Afghans uses one name.

 The problems plaguing Hamidullah’s battalion represent what might be the biggest threat to the fledgling Afghan army: an inability to repair or replace vital equipment once it is broken. The U.S. military shouldered that responsibility for years. But just as the Afghan army started doing the bulk of the fighting, the Americans stopped repairing Afghan equipment.

 The U.S. military said that turning over the job to the Afghans was an inevitable part of the transition process. But with the Afghan supply chain still undeveloped and the Defense Ministry still hobbled by corruption, army units across the country aren’t getting the gear and parts that they need.

 Afghan commanders are now taking stock of how many vehicles they have lost during the fighting season, which typically lasts from spring until fall, when many Taliban commanders return to Pakistan. Nabiullah, a battalion commander in the Arghandab River valley in southern Kandahar province, said by telephone that 20 percent of his Humvees have been blown up or have fallen into disrepair. Khan Agha, a battalion commander in Kandahar’s Panjwai district, said his unit lost about 15 percent of its Humvees in the past four months.

 “We don’t have enough trained professionals to take care of this equipment,” Nabiullah said.

 By nearly all measures, it was a brutal fighting season for the Afghan security forces. About 400 soldiers and police officers were killed every month. Even in districts where there wasn’t much combat, improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs, took an enormous toll on the army and its equipment. U.S. officials have praised the Afghans for their resilience in the face of such heavy losses.

 Afghan soldiers say that they haven’t lost their willingness to fight but that the lack of functional equipment has restricted their ability to conduct operations. In Hamidullah’s battalion, for example, the team charged with locating and disarming roadside bombs is down from four Humvees to one, seriously reducing the number of patrols it can conduct.

 Even the much-lauded Afghan special forces teams are plagued by the logistical problems.

 “The Americans gave us the Humvees, but they didn’t give us the spare parts,” said Sgt. Mohammad Safi, who is part of the special forces team based in Wardak province’s Nerkh district. His team lost three Humvees this fighting season, and none have been replaced.

 Lack of spare parts

 It’s hard to overstate the importance of the armored vehicles to Afghan troops. This month, the Taliban fired two rocket-propelled grenades at a personnel carrier from Hamidullah’s battalion while the soldiers were on a routine patrol. The windshield was shattered, the roof was mangled and the engine was damaged, but the men inside were unharmed.

 Days later, three Afghan mechanics were hard at work trying to repair the damaged engine. The Americans had left them a manual to fix the vehicle, full of diagrams and pictures of spare parts. But the Afghans had received few of those parts. They were even out of engine oil.

 It didn’t take long for the mechanics to realize that they couldn’t get the vehicle running again.

 “Of course it feels bad when I can’t fix something — but I know I could if I had the spare parts,” said one of the mechanics, Pvt. Sardar Mohammad.

 To get them, the soldiers would have to fill and send a series of forms to the Defense Ministry — and wait. Some battalions have waited three years to get key parts or to have their Humvees replaced, because of bureaucratic inefficiency. It’s much easier to replace the army’s Ford Rangers, but because those trucks aren’t armored, they are not as desirable, especially in violent eastern Afghanistan. If the soldiers had been in a Ranger when the RPGs struck, they probably would have been seriously injured or killed.

 “When we go on operations, either 10 guys cram into one Humvee, or we walk,” Pvt. Rahmatullah said. “A Ranger is made of paper.”

 The Afghan Defense Ministry has acknowledged nagging problems with the army’s ability to repair and replace valuable equipment, despite a massive U.S. investment in Afghan forces. Earlier this year, Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the ministry, cited that weakness as a reason why continued Russian financial assistance was so important.

 Procurement troubles

 The logistical hurdles go beyond getting new vehicles or spare parts. A procurement debacle at the Defense Ministry has prevented tens of thousands of soldiers from getting army-

 issued boots. Instead, they have to buy shoes themselves, sometimes wearing tattered running sneakers. Hamidullah’s unit has also run out of rockets that can be used with the launchers it was provided.

 Still, Hamidullah considers himself lucky. Because his unit is only 70 miles from Kabul, the capital, he typically gets the fuel he needs. For units far from headquarters, their allotted fuel shipment never arrives in full. Both Afghan soldiers and U.S. officials suspect that some of it is stolen.

 The fighting is expected to die down in the coming weeks. Afghan commanders want to know: Will their gear be fixed before spring comes and the violence picks up once again? Another tough fighting season could wipe out what’s left of Hamidullah’s vehicles.

 U.S. officials say that they are aware of the Afghan security forces’ logistical problems but that they have seen signs of improvement.

 “The fighting season raises the stakes and exacerbates the problems of any military,” U.S. Brig. Gen. Eric Wesley said. “We recognize the problem and so do they, but we think we’re on our way to a solution.”

 That solution would involve NATO forces helping the Afghans improve the supply chain that connects far-flung bases to the Defense Ministry in Kabul and ensuring that Afghan mechanics have the skills and tools to fix their equipment.

 This week, Maj. Gen. Dean Milner of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan announced that the alliance would redouble efforts to improve supply processes and prevent waste and fraud in the Afghan Defense Ministry.

 But the push comes as the Americans are rapidly withdrawing from Afghanistan, removing advisers working with Afghan battalions and attaching them to higher levels of leadership. At those more-senior levels, officials say, these advisers will be able to identify and monitor systemic problems. But they are less likely to assist when a battalion or platoon is handicapped by an isolated logistical issue, particularly compared with a few years ago, when the Americans were fixing Afghan vehicles themselves.

 Hamidullah’s battalion recently launched its last significant operation of the fighting season. Soldiers piled into the remaining Humvees. Others reluctantly took Rangers. The mechanics stayed behind, tinkering with the broken vehicle they knew they couldn’t fix.

 “I’ll send it to brigade,” said Sardar Mohammad, the mechanic. “But I already know they don’t have the capacity to fix it.” ||||| A man collects items from a scrap yard near Bagram Airfield, the main operations headquarters for the international forces in Afghanistan.

 A man collects items from a scrap yard near Bagram Airfield, the main operations headquarters for the international forces in Afghanistan. Javier Manzano/For The Washington Post

 In a nation nicknamed the “graveyard of empires,” foreign forces are remembered for what they leave behind. The United States is leaving heaps of scrap in Afghanistan.

 In a nation nicknamed the “graveyard of empires,” foreign forces are remembered for what they leave behind. The United States is leaving heaps of scrap in Afghanistan.

 In a nation nicknamed the “graveyard of empires,” foreign forces are remembered for what they leave behind. The United States is leaving heaps of scrap in Afghanistan.

 The armored trucks, televisions, ice cream scoops and nearly everything else shipped here for America’s war against the Taliban are now part of the world’s biggest garage sale. Every week, as the U.S. troop drawdown accelerates, the United States is selling 12 million to 14 million pounds of its equipment on the Afghan market.

 Returning that gear to the United States from a landlocked country halfway around the world would be prohibitively expensive, according to U.S. officials. Instead, they’re leaving behind $7 billion worth of supplies, a would-be boon to the fragile Afghan economy.

 But there’s one catch: The equipment is being destroyed before it’s offered to the Afghan people — to ensure that treadmills, air-conditioning units and other rudimentary appliances aren’t used to make roadside bombs.

 “Many non-military items have timing equipment or other components in them that can pose a threat. For example, timers can be attached to explosives. Treadmills, stationary bikes, many household appliances and devices, et cetera, have timers,” said Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency.

 That policy has produced more scrap metal than Afghanistan has ever seen. It has also led to frustration among Afghans, who feel as if they are being robbed of items such as flat-panel televisions and armored vehicles that they could use or sell — no small thing in a country where the average annual income hovers at just over $500.

 In Afghanistan, nicknamed the “graveyard of empires,” foreign forces are remembered for what they leave behind. In the 1840s, the British left forts that still stand today. In the 1980s, the Russians left tanks, trucks and aircraft strewn about the country. The United States is leaving heaps of mattresses, barbed wire and shipping containers in scrap yards near its shrinking bases.

 “This is America’s dustbin,” said Sufi Khan, a trader standing in the middle of an immense scrap yard outside Bagram air base, the U.S. military’s sprawling headquarters for eastern Afghanistan.

 The scrap yard looks like a post-industrial landfill in the middle of the Afghan desert, a surreal outcropping of mangled metal and plastic. There’s a tower of treadmills 50 feet high and an acre of American buses, trucks and vans, stripped of seats and engines. An ambulance is perched unsteadily atop a pile of scrap, as if it fell from the sky. A mountain of air-conditioning units sits next to a mountain of truck axles.

 Some of the scrap still shows signs of its previous owners — vehicles spray-painted with American names, mattresses sunken from 12 years of use, bumper stickers from Hawaii or Oklahoma.

 A torrent of scrap

 The Bagram scrap yard is owned by Feda Mohammad Ulfat, who helped build the neighboring base more than a decade ago, transporting gravel and concrete. Now Ulfat is helping to dismantle the base, taking in thousands of pounds of American scrap metal every day.

 “I never imagined we’d be getting this much stuff,” he said.

 Not all of the equipment reaching the scrap yard was deliberately damaged: Some was already broken after a decade of use. Ulfat decided several years ago that he would invest in it anyway.

 Some of his friends thought he was crazy, but Ulfat had an idea: The expensive American gear could be melted and reconstituted as raw material for an Afghan building boom. He’d gotten rich on dozens of other contracts with the U.S. military, and he assumed that this one would be no different.

 When he signed the contract, the scrap metal was only trickling in. But over the past six months, the U.S. drawdown has reached a fever pitch in eastern Afghanistan, with dozens of bases being closed. Suddenly, a torrent of scrap metal was being delivered to Ulfat’s farm. He had to buy more land. Scrap was piled atop scrap. He now spends up to a half-million dollars a month on gear that has been shredded or flattened.

 When U.S. officials began planning for their exit, the idea was to ship home the majority of their equipment, especially expensive military gear such as mine-resistant vehicles. That calculus has changed.

 The Pentagon has budgeted $5 billion to $7 billion to ship gear back to the United States. But that sum isn’t enough to take everything currently in Afghanistan.

 Wanting at least a small return on its investment, the U.S. military decided to sell the leftovers for pennies on the pound. That’s where Ulfat came in.

 He has now opened his scrap yard for the public to rummage through. Small groups of men wander around, buying broken air conditioners that can be stripped of their copper wiring or sheets of corrugated iron that can be sold to Pakistani traders. Many of the supplies that the U.S. military used to fight its longest war have begun their second lives in South and Central Asia.

 This month, Haji Montazer paced the scrap yard with his son. They were looking for generators that might be repairable or really anything that they could sell in Kabul or Pakistan. One of their customers makes bed frames out of the metal beams that once held up American military structures. Another takes metal pieces — parts of military vehicles and barbed wire — to Lahore, where they are melted and sold as corrugated rooftops for cheap Pakistani homes.

 Not like the Russians

 Montazer once bought equipment from the Soviet forces, which began their withdrawal in the late 1980s.

 “But the Russians didn’t break their things before they sold them to us,” he said.

 That bitter sentiment is shared by many who visit Ulfat’s scrap yard. The United States has not publicly explained why its gear is destroyed before being sold. U.S. officials are quick to point out that the Afghan government typically has an opportunity to express interest in American military equipment, which is sometimes handed over intact.

 Lately, Ulfat’s dream of getting rich off the U.S. scrap has started to fade. Kabul’s real estate boom is over, he said. All he hears from Afghans are concerns about what will happen to the country after the U.S. withdrawal. His scrap yard tells the story of the drawdown.

 “What will we do with all of this? Right now, no one will buy it. And if the future is as bad as people say it will be . . . .” His voice trailed off. “It could be bad.”

 Hafizullah, an employee of Ulfat’s who goes by one name, wandered through the scrap yard one day this month, overseeing the latest delivery — a mix of blast walls and carburetors. With Bagram still the most active base in eastern Afghanistan, aircraft flew over his head incessantly.

 One helicopter flew particularly close, hovering near the scrap yard. Hafizullah pointed to the Black Hawk and laughed.

 “I can’t wait until they start selling those here,” he said. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Searching for a good deal on a used treadmill? Look no further than Afghanistan, where the US military is selling off 2 million to 14 million pounds of its equipment every week, as it winds down operations there. There's just one catch, reports the Washington Post: most of the equipment is destroyed so parts can't be made into bombs. "Many non-military items have timing equipment or other components in them that can pose a threat. For example, timers can be attached to explosives. Treadmills, stationary bikes, many household appliances and devices, et cetera, have timers," explains a Pentagon spokesperson. All the equipment would be too expensive to bring back to the US, so now a scrap yard near Bagram is piled high with air conditioners, trucks, and TVs that don't work. And the locals aren't impressed. "The Russians didn’t break their things before they sold them to us," says one customer. Meanwhile, the Post reports in a separate article, Afghanistan's army is struggling with broken equipment it can't fix. The US had previously been taking care of repairs, but since it stopped, corruption and an undeveloped local supply chain has made finding replacement parts difficult. "The Americans gave us the Humvees, but they didn’t give us the spare parts," says a local special forces leader. And it doesn't help that gear is being pilfered—one special forces commander just defected to a Taliban-aligned insurgent group, taking up to 30 guns, night-vision goggles, and a Humvee with him, Reuters reports.


– All 222 passengers and 19 crew from a Singapore Airlines flight are safe and unharmed after a terrifying incident early Monday. The airline says the Boeing 777-3000 was on its way from Singapore to Milan when the pilot decided to turn back after receiving an engine oil warning message, the AP reports. It landed back at Singapore's Changi Airport more then four hours later—and just after it came to a halt, its right engine burst into flames as horrified passengers looked on. "By the time the fire engines reached the plane, the flames were about a meter high," passenger Amit Jain tells Today. "When we could see the flames rising, some people were trying to remove their bags from the overhead compartments, which was crazy," he says. "I heard a few people scream 'Open the doors!' and 'Let us out!'" The airline and the airport say the blaze was extinguished within minutes, CNN reports. The passengers were transferred to another flight to Milan. Passengers say they could smell oil while the plane was in the air, but they didn't realize how close to death they were until afterward, the BBC reports. Analyst Greg Waldron at Flightglobal says it appears the pilots did everything right by turning back when they discovered the problem and dumping fuel along the way. "When the plane slows down as you land, fuel can cling to the wing and surfaces. Sparks from the hot brakes after they landed could have the triggered the fire and it does appear quite dramatic. But they appear to have gotten that under control very quickly," he says, per Reuters. "There don't appear to be any procedural issues here."

Expand this summary.

SINGAPORE — About two hours into an early Monday (June 27) morning flight from Singapore to Milan, Italy, the pilot of Singapore Airlines flight 368 announced over the public address system that the plane would have to turn back. An engine oil warning message had been triggered, and the aircraft was returning to Changi Airport for safety reasons.

 “I could feel the vibrations,” recalled passenger Amit Jain, 44, who was seated at the business-class section near the right engine that would eventually catch fire hours later. “There was a very strange sound, sort of like a slight screeching noise coming from the plane.”

 Another passenger on SQ368, Ms Lee Bee Yee, told TODAY that she and her husband noticed a faint fuel-like smell in the economy cabin where they were seated.

 But at that time, no one was particularly concerned about the announcement, recalled Mr Jain, the director of IT and enterprise resource planning at a multinational company. “Half of the passengers were sleeping,” he added.

 Mr Jain was awake as the plane landed back at Changi airport at about 6.50am, more than four hours after it took off at about 2.25am. He had a good view of the Boeing 777-300ER’s right engine and did not notice anything unusual when the plane came to a halt.

 Then he caught sight of a convoy of fire engines racing towards the aircraft. That was when he realised that SQ368’s right engine was on fire. “I saw the flames getting worse and worse. By the time the fire engines reached the plane, the flames were about a meter high. I could see the wing turn black from the heat,” Mr Jain recounted.

 “When we could see the flames rising, some people were trying to remove their bags from the overhead compartments, which was crazy,” he told TODAY. “I heard a few people scream ‘Open the doors!’ and ‘Let us out!’ and they were standing in the aisle. I had to tell a lady, ‘if I had to run out I’m going to have to kick your bag out of the way’.”

 Still, the pilot and crew managed to calm things down, repeatedly reminding passengers to stay in their seats while airport emergency services tackled the fire, passengers said.

 A statement from Singapore Airlines said the fire was put out in minutes by the Airport Emergency Service team. “All passengers and crew on board disembarked safely. No injuries were reported,” the statement added. “The affected aircraft has been towed away and the clean-up of Runway 2 is underway.”

 Ms Lee, the owner of an e-commerce luxury bags company, posted dramatic footage and photos of the aircraft’s right engine and wing engulfed in flames. She wrote on Facebook: “We were so close to death! I thank God I am alive! I going home to hug my kids.”

 Mr Jain said at one point he could feel a bit of the intense heat from the flames outside the plane. The passengers were not allowed to leave as firefighters sprayed water and foam to douse the flames.

 “The foam was close to waist-deep for the firefighters,” he recalled. “The pilot came on the public address system a couple of times to tell passengers to stay calm and that fire was being put out.”

 Added Ms Lee, who postponed her trip and headed home with her husband after their ordeal: “We are very grateful to the air crew and the firefighters. Everyone did a good job.”

 A rescheduled flight with a new crew took off for Milan after 10am on Monday. It was unclear how many passengers pressed on with their trip. Singapore Airlines said it had offered passengers the option to defer or reschedule their travel.

 Mr Jain was one of many passengers who pressed on with his trip to Milan. Those who boarded the new flight with him did not seem too rattled.

 He told TODAY before boarding his rescheduled flight: “Most of the passengers are in the lounge right now. Snacks being served. People don’t look distressed, at least to me. It’s mostly calm.”

 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote on Facebook that he was relieved all the people onboard were safely disembarked. “Thanks to SQ and Changi Airport for the swift response. SQ and CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) are investigating the cause, and will get to the bottom of the matter,” said Mr Lee.

 Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan also wrote on Facebook that he was relieved to learn of the safe emergency landing. “Incident is being investigated, as to the cause and whether any of our procedures can be improved further,” he said. ||||| Story highlights Right engine of Singapore Airlines flight SQ368 caught fire after emergency landing at Changi Airport

 All of the 222 passengers and 19 crew disembarked safely

 (CNN) A Singapore Airlines plane burst into flames Monday after an emergency landing at the city-state's Changi Airport.

 Images posted to social media show flames leaping from the plane's wing.

 "We were so close to death!! I am still in the plane with all passengers. But I think we are safe for now..." passenger Lee Bee Yee posted on Facebook.

 From her seat, Yee could see the fire from inside the plane, and the aftermath as firefighters doused it with foam.

 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing A cell phone photo shot by passenger Lee Bee Yee (facebook.com/premiummall.sg) shows the wing of a Singapore Airlines flight on fire upon landing at Changi Airport on June 27, 2016. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing Passengers were calm throughout the incident, said Lee. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing Firefighting foam coats the window of the plane after the landing. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing Firefighting crews were able to extinguish the blaze. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing The wing in the aftermath of the blaze. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing Lee thanks a firefighter as she disembarks the plane. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire after landing All passengers were safely evacuated after the blaze. Hide Caption 7 of 7

 Flight SQ368, a Boeing 777-300ER, took off from Changi Airport around 2:25am on June 27 carrying 222 passengers and 19 crew, Singapore Airlines said.

 Read More ||||| LONDON (Reuters) - To leave, or not to leave: that is the question. Still.

 A woman holds a sign in Westminster, in central London, Britain June 24, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble

 After Britain’s historic vote to leave the European Union, there is no indication that a so-called Brexit will happen soon. It maybe never will.

 Prime Minister David Cameron, who is resigning, has said he will not take the formal step to an EU divorce on the grounds that his successor should. Because the referendum is not legally-binding, some politicians are suggesting a parliament vote before formally triggering Brexit.

 A petition on the UK government’s website on holding a second referendum has gained more than 3 million signatories in just two days.

 European leaders, facing the biggest threat to European unity since World War Two, are divided over how swiftly divorce talks should start. Paris wants haste and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging patience. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he wanted to “start immediately”.

 And on Sunday, Scotland’s leader said Scotland may veto Brexit altogether. Under devolution rules, the parliaments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are required to consent to any EU divorce, according to a report by the House of Lords.

 Most British politicians agree such a decisive 52-48 win for Leave in the referendum means a divorce must happen. Anything less would be a slap in the face of democracy.

 “The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered,” a choking Cameron said in his resignation speech, which marked the most tumultuous end to a British premiership since Anthony Eden resigned in 1957 after the Suez crisis.

 Still, the upswell of chatter - #regrexit is trending big on twitter - over whether Britain might be able to reconsider speaks to the disbelief gripping this continent in the wake of a vote that has unleashed financial and political mayhem.

 Sterling has plunged, and Britain’s political parties are both crippled. Cameron is a lameduck leader, and the main opposition Labour party on Sunday attempted a coup against its leader, with nine top officials resigning.

 “The kaleidoscope has been shaken up not just in terms of our relationship with the EU but in terms of who runs our parties, who governs the country and what the country is made up of,” said Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London.

 “It is very hard to see where the pieces are.”

 ARTICLE 50

 The law provisioning an EU member country’s exit from the union is Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty that is effectively the EU’s constitution. It has never been invoked before.

 Before the vote, Cameron had said Article 50 would be triggered straight away if Britain voted to leave. Over the weekend, several EU officials also said the UK needed to formally split right away - possibly at a Tuesday EU meeting.

 But officials of the Leave campaign - including former London mayor Boris Johnson - are stepping on the brakes. They say they want to negotiate Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU before formally pulling the trigger to divorce.

 European officials and observers say such a deal is unlikely, especially considering the thorny issues involved.

 For example, it is unlikely that the EU would grant Britain access to the single market - key to allowing Britain trade goods and services in the EU - without London accepting the free movement of EU workers. But the biggest issue for those who voted to leave the bloc was limits on immigration - something the Leave campaigners promised.

 DIVIDED UK

 On Sunday, a petition to call for a second referendum was gaining supporters, reaching 3.3 million signatories by the afternoon. David Lammy, a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, said it was within parliament’s powers to call a second referendum and urged that it be done.

 Perhaps the most vocal resistance to a British exit is coming from Scotland.

 Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent, compared to the 54 percent in England who voted to leave.

 Under the United Kingdom’s complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to set off an EU divorce would have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments, according to a report by the House of Lords’ European Union Committee.

 Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC on Sunday that she would consider urging the Scottish parliament to block such a motion. It is not clear, however, whether such a scenario would ever materialize or be binding. Sturgeon’s spokesman later said that the British government might not seek consent in the first place.

 Moreover, Sturgeon is simply laying out the groundwork for a new referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom —something the first minister said was “highly likely.”

 Slideshow (5 Images)

 WITHDRAWAL

 While there is no precedent for Article 50, the House of Lords has discussed how any Brexit would work. In May, it published a report after consultations with legal experts.

 In the report, Derrick Wyatt, one of the professors involved, said that while it would be politically difficult, the law allows the UK to change its mind after invoking Article 50.

 “In law, the UK could change its mind before withdrawal from the EU and decide to stay in after all,” said Wyatt. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Watch: Singapore Airlines plane catches fire

 A Singapore Airlines plane bound for Milan caught fire shortly after making an emergency landing.

 Flight SQ368, which departed at 02:05 local time on Monday (18:00 GMT Sunday), was two hours into the flight when the pilot announced there was an engine problem.

 The plane turned back and landed before the right engine of the Boeing 777 burst into flames.

 All 222 passengers and 19 crew on board were safely evacuated.

 "We were in the air for roughly an hour before we began to smell gas," one passenger who gave his name as Chuan told the BBC.

 "The pilot came on the intercom and said that there was an oil leak in one of the engines and that they were going to turn and go back to Singapore."

 Image copyright AP Image caption Firefighters took about five to 10 minutes to extinguish the flames on the plane

 Image copyright AP Image caption Everyone on board was safely evacuated

 Chuan added that all the passengers were very calm and that he actually "went back to sleep" after the announcement was made.

 It was only after he got off the flight that he realised how "close to death" he and his wife had been.

 Firefighters took about five to 10 minutes to extinguish the flames, he said.

 Passengers will be transferred to another aircraft which is expected to depart for Milan later on Monday, said Singapore Airlines in a statement on Facebook. ||||| This image provided by Lee Bee Yee shows passengers disembarking a Singapore Airlines flight after an engine fire, at Changi International Airport in Singapore on Monday, June 27, 2016. A Singapore Airlines... (Associated Press)

 This image provided by Lee Bee Yee shows passengers disembarking a Singapore Airlines flight after an engine fire, at Changi International Airport in Singapore on Monday, June 27, 2016. A Singapore Airlines statement said the Boeing 777-300ER was on its way to Milan when it turned back "following an... (Associated Press)

 SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore Airlines said Monday that there were no injuries when a jetliner caught fire after the plane returned to Changi Airport because of an engine warning.

 An airline statement said the Boeing 777-300ER was on its way to Milan when it turned back "following an engine oil warning message."

 It said the aircraft's right engine caught fire after Flight SQ368 touched down more than four hours after takeoff.

 "The fire was put out by airport emergency services and there were no injuries to the 222 passengers and 19 crew on board," it said.

 The airline says the passengers were transferred to another aircraft that was to depart for Milan later Monday. |||||