French Police Dog Diesel Killed In Terrorist Raid: ‘Not All Heroes Are Human’
An anti-terrorist police dog died in a terror raid on Wednesday morning in Paris, which was in response to the attacks that were conducted in the French capital on Friday, November 13 and resulted in the deaths of 129 people.
The Police Nationale have confirmed that Diesel, a 7-year-old Belgian Shepherd, died in the raid, while it has been reported that he killed by a jihadi detonating her suicide vest.
Police Nationale took to their Twitter profile to confirm that Diesel had died in the attack while also posting a picture of the canine.
Les chiens d’assaut et de recherche d’explosifs: indispensables dans les missions des opérateurs du #RAID pic.twitter.com/vb5lGjnwjO
— Police Nationale (@PNationale) November 18, 2015
After this post was uploaded to Twitter, users immediately began to pay their tributes to Diesel, and soon the #notallheroesarehuman as well as #jesuisunchien, which translates as “I am a dog,” started to do the rounds on Twitter.
#RIP Diesel the brave Belgian police dog killed by ISIS terrorists in Paris this morning. #NotAllHeroesAreHuman pic.twitter.com/YwFh1QlDtx
— Beautiful world (@magicearth_) November 18, 2015
@JD_Diezel he’s so handsome. His baby picture made me tear up again. #RIPDiesel #JeSuisChien #JeSuisDiesel #NotAllHeroesAreHuman
— Coach’s Sister (@CoachsSister) November 18, 2015
Terror attacks in Paris make me mad & angry, but today hearing Diesel the police dog died made me cry 😢 #RIPDiesel #NotAllHeroesAreHuman
— Hazel (@hazel_m_r) November 18, 2015
#SaintDenis #RIPDiesel #NotAllHeroesAreHuman Diesel died tackling a suicide bomber, saving her team. #Hero pic.twitter.com/NCL69VKBlC
— John Cain (@JohnDCain) November 18, 2015
The Police Nationale also wrote a post on Facebook about Diesel’s death, which read, “Diesel, Mainois 7 years of age, dog’s attack #raid was killed by terrorist in the ongoing operation in Saint-Denis. The attack dogs and research of explosives: essential in the missions of the operators of the raid.”
Diesel had been sent into a building in Saint-Denis, Paris, which French investigators believed had suspected ISIS militants inside, to try and sniff out booby traps.
Diesel was then killed when a jihadi emerged from the building carrying an AK-47 before she then detonated her suicide vest.
A source explained to the Daily Mail, “When the policemen arrived with the dog, the dog came in first and was immediately killed. The French people are sad about the death.”
Police officers and investigators had been watching numerous flats and apartments in the Saint-Denis area of Paris since Tuesday. They tapped phones, and once they were confident that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected ringleader of the Paris terrorist attacks, and various other terrorist suspects were inside, they decided to infiltrate the property.
Meanwhile, 50-year-old Lofti, who was in the area at the time of the assault on the terrorists, recalled, “I heard police officers talking to a woman with long blonde hair. I think she was the kamikaze.”
“They told her not to lower her arms, to keep her hands up in the air, and then there was a massive explosion. I think that’s when she detonated her bomb. It really was a very loud explosion. Lots of windows on the street were shattered, and then the firefight started and it was going on nonstop.” Lofti then confirmed that he saw Diesel the dog die.
[Image via Pierre Suu/Getty Images]