At least one of the three Stade de France suicide bombers tried to get into the stadium, despite not having a ticket, but was turned away, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The three bombers were part of the multi-pronged attack that killed 128 in Paris Friday night.
According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, one police theory is that the attackers never expected to get inside the stadium, and instead planned to detonate as people filed in before kick-off or filed out after the game, causing mass casualties and a probable stampede.
But their timing may have been off, officials say. When they triggered their vests — two during the first half of the match, the third at halftime — most of the crowd was inside the stadium. Only one bystander was killed in the explosions.
“We think this operation failed,” a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “(It was) badly organized.”
Passport shows migrant link
A passport found near the body of one of the Stade de France bombers may have belonged to a Syrian regime soldier killed several months ago, a source close to the investigation told AFP.
The passport is in the name of Ahmad al-Mohammad, born September 10, 1990 in Idlib, Syria. French investigators say all indications point towards the fact he was a soldier loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to AFP, said the passport was either taken from its owner, or fabricated based on a real identity.
It was registered on the Greek island of Leros on October 3, and was reportedly seen again in Serbia and Croatia in the following days. Both Greece and Serbia are on the so-called Balkan migrant route used by more than 800,000 people fleeing Syria's civil war this year. This means that the passport may have been used by the attacker on his way from Syria to France, and that he took advantage of the refugee stream to enter Europe for terrorist purposes.
Several right-wing political groups across Europe have presented its discovery as an argument against welcoming migrants into Europe. France's anti-immigration National Front leader Marine Le Pen called for an "immediate halt" to new arrivals, while Germany's PEGIDA movement drew thousands to their latest anti-Islam rally.
But Germany's government said the Islamic State group may have intentionally sought to create tensions by using the passport "to politicize and radicalize the refugee question".
AFP contributed to this article.