- The key defendant in the trail of the 2015 Paris attacks said the killings were "nothing personal."
- Salah Abdeslam was arrested months after the attack, the Associated Press reported.
- The coordinated attacks around Paris on November 13, 2015, left 130 people dead.
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The key defendant in the trial over the 2015 Paris attacks said that the killing of 130 people in the French capital was "nothing personal," the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
Salah Abdeslam, who wore all black to the trial and acknowledged his role in the terror attacks for the first time, was arrested months after the attack and said the killings were in retaliation for French airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.
"We fought France, we attacked France, we targeted the civilian population. It was nothing personal against them," he said. "I know my statement may be shocking, but it is not to dig the knife deeper in the wound but to be sincere towards those who are suffering immeasurable grief."
A group of Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers launched several coordinated attacks around Paris on November 13, 2015, targeting individuals at a soccer stadium, cafe and concert hall.
The attacks where the deadliest violence in France since World War II and one of the worst terror attacks to hit Europe.
Abdeslam is the only surviving member of his terror cell, the report said. His suicide vest malfunctioned on the night of the attack and he fled after to his hometown of Brussels.
Most of his fellow cell members were French or Belgian, the report said. The same terror network targeted the Brussels airport and a subway station in 2016, killing 32 people.
The report said that the trial, which began last week, is expected to last nine months.