Paris attacks: Isis mastermind Abaaoud tried to recruit women in Spain

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz said on Thursday that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind the Paris attacks, had attempted to recruit women in Spain to Isis. Abaaoud died on Wednesday morning in a police raid in Saint-Denis, Paris.

Fernández Díaz told Spanish TV channel, Antena 3 that Abaaoud had tried to use the internet to contact people, mostly women, in Spain and recruit them to fight alongside Isis in Syria. The minister also told the channel that there was no evidence to suggest that Abaaoud was planning attacks in Spain.

Abaaoud was thought to be the mastermind behind the 13 November Paris attacks that left 129 people dead in the French capital. On Thursday, French authorities formally confirmed he had died during a raid on a property in Saint-Denis, Paris, saying that his body was "riddled with bullets and shrapnel".

Fernández Díaz also said he was in favour of tighter border controls within the European Union. Abaaoud had previously boasted about how easily he could travel between Syria, France and the rest of Europe.

Fernández Díaz's comments echoed the sentiment of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius who said "If Abaaoud could move from Syria to France, that means there are flaws in the whole European system... we'll have to be much, much firmer and tighter."