TERRORISM. Author in 2022 of the book of memories “At the heart of the RAID”, Marc Verillotte, operator within this elite unit between 1997 and 2018, was part of the teams which intervened against the Islamist commando of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. He remembers.
November 13, 2015. Nine years ago. Horror night in Paris. One hundred and thirty lives lost, 413 injured, according to an official report. The Bataclan, the terraces of cafes and restaurants, the Stade de France…. “It was the first time in France that there was a chain of eight attacks”remembers Marc Verillotte. A native of Langres, son of a railway worker from Chalindrey, this now retired police officer served for eleven years within the RAID, the elite intervention unit of the national police. Mohammed Merah – operation during which the Haut-Marnais was injured on duty* -, the Hyper Cacher, November 13: during this period, this high-level sportsman found himself at the heart of the fight against Islamist terrorists – 273 victims in France since 2012.
Terraces at the Bataclan
Marc Verillotte was not on call that evening. “I was on an internship », he testifies. But given the seriousness of the events, “Everyone was called back. I went to Paris with my personal vehicle”. While two teams left for the Bataclan where a hostage-taking was announced, the former judoka from Chalindrey went with his team near the La Bonne beer bar, in a building where the presence of two terrorists had been reported. After verification, the information turned out to be false. “So we were sent as reinforcements to the Bataclan”continues Marc Verillotte.
It's in the auditorium, “where the terrorists had just been eliminated” adds the ex-RAID operator, that the night was the bloodiest. Ninety victims, including a native of Haut-Marnaise (read the box). “November 13 was also the first time terrorists used primary explosive vests, explains Marc Verillotte. Each of them carried 1.2 kg of explosives – TATP – and bolts, in front, behind, on the sides. When it comes to secondary explosives, the energy of the bullet does not allow the explosive to be triggered…”. But it was different in the present case. Hence the complexity of intervention. A police officer was «blasté» by the explosion of a vest – “a relatively minor injury, that is to say without lifelong consequences” – while one of the terrorists was killed by a bolt.
“Barrage”
Three other members of the RAID were hit five days later during the attack on the Saint-Denis building. “It was a matter of looking for Abaaoud known as “The Syrian”, one of the great leaders of November 13”testifies Marc Verillotte, positioned in the second wave of attack. During the operation, two Islamists and a woman were killed when one of them blew himself up, “three injured police officers were evacuated”explains the Haut-Marnais, who remembers that around 2,500 cartridges – “and not 5,000” – were fired by the RAID during the operation.
“It was a barrage, to prevent the terrorists from coming into contact with the first wave », Indicates the South Haut-Marnais. A barrage as practiced by the military. This was also, for the RAID, one of the consequences of the anti-terrorist operations which bloodied France. “We are collaborating more and more with the military, because the terrorists are more and more armed, he explains. Let us remember that the Kouachi brothers had a rocket launcher, that those of November 13 had primary explosive vests, Kalashnikovs. » Since these attacks, “we have implemented additional tactics, for which we train over several years in order to create the automatisms”observes Marc Verillotte, who was made a knight of the Legion of Honor after his injury in 2012.
Lionel Fontaine
* daily jhm from September 22, 2022.
The daughter of a Haut-Marnais among the victims
Declared a “victim of terrorism” on March 2, 2016, Fanny Minot had just celebrated her 29th birthday when she lost her life at the Bataclan. Born in Les Ulis (Essonne), she was originally from Haute-Marne through her father, a native of Fayl-Billot. Members of his family still live in Les Loges. Passionate about cinema, Fanny Minot obtained a master's thesis devoted to the director David Cronenberg at the University of Paris VII. She also completed a BTS in editing, and it was in this capacity that she worked for the production company of several TV shows. Canal +like “Le Petit Journal”. A music fan, Fanny Minot went with a friend to the Eagles Death Metal concert at the Bataclan where her path was to cross that of the terrorists, like 89 other rock fans.
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