A police dog trained to search for explosives was killed when security forces raid several apartments in Paris on Wednesday in search of the suspected mastermind of last week's attacks that left more than 129 dead.


French officials identified the dog as Diesel, a seven-year-old Belgian Malinois, and said the animal was "killed by terrorists".


At least three people were killed, one of them a woman who blew herself up and seven more arrested during the raids in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis by heavily armed police and soldiers early on Wednesday.


The security forces were looking for the suspected mastermind of Friday's attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. At least five security personnel were injured in the operation.The official Twitter handle of the National Police posted: "Diesel, a seven-year-old Malinois, a police dog for #RAID, was killed by terrorists in the ongoing operation at #SaintDenis.


RAID is France's anti-terrorism police unit. Another tweet from the National Police said the dogs trained for assault and searching for explosives are indispensable for the operations of RAID.


Pic: A representative photo of a dog used by France's RAID anti-terror unit tweeted by France's National Police.