PARIS, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- French police are mourning the death of a police dog who was killed during a Wednesday raid targeting the alleged mastermind of the Paris terrorist attacks.
Diesel, a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois Shepherd "was killed by terrorists in the current operation in Saint-Denis," Police Nationale posted on their Twitter page. The hashtag #JeSuisChien, or "I am dog" began trending around the world shortly after.
Borrowing the phrase of solidarity used by people on social media after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in January that killed 11 people -- Je suis Charlie -- more than 55,000 tweets were fired off in tribute to the police dog.
French police and soldiers raided several apartments in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis early Wednesday in search of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the suspected mastermind behind last week's terrorist attacks. Several explosions and steady gunfire were reported by residents during the raid. Two of the suspects were killed and seven people were arrested.
Diesel was reportedly killed when a female suspect blew herself up with a suicide vest, an explosion that also injured several officers.
Police Nationale tweeted an apparent photo of Diesel and said "assault and explosives search dogs are indispensable in the missions of the operators of the RAID."
