French launch series of 'massive' air strikes on Isis targets in Raqqa including jihadi recruitment centre and training camp
- French jets carried out 'massive' bombing in ISIS held city of Raqqa, Syria, in revenge for terror attack in Paris
- Ten fighter jets dropped twenty bombs destroying ISIS command centre and jihadi training camp in Syria
- French jets took off from air bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates and targeted key ISIS sites in Raqqa
- Heavy bombing raid comes just two days after horrific attacks in Paris which left as many as 128 people dead
French fighter jets have carried out a series of 'massive' air strikes on Raqqa, destroying a key ISIS command centre and a training camp in Syria.
The heavy bombing raid comes just two days after the militant group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that killed 128 people, the defence ministry said.
'The raid ... including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped,' the statement said.
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One of the ten French fighter jets prepares to take off from an airbase in the United Arab Emirates
France's strong approach to counter attacking ISIS in Syria has reportedly led to the destruction of a key jihadi recruitment centre and a training camp
The operation, carried out in coordination with U.S. forces, struck a command centre, recruitment centre for jihadists, a munitions depot and a training camp for fighters, it said. Activists inside Syria have suggested that no civilian casualties have been sustained in the Raqqa bombings.
Water supplies and electricity have reportedly been cut as a result of the air strikes, with activists claiming there has been 'panic' inside the city.
The revenge airstrikes in Syria comes as French police broadcast the name and image of Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old born in Brussels, across Europe, warning that he is very dangerous. 'Do not intervene yourself,' his warrant says.
Salah Abdeslam is wanted in connection with the deadly Paris attacks on Friday, in which it is believed he played a key part in planning the operations.
His brother, Ibrahim, was one of the seven suicide bombers in the devastating terror attacks. Salah is thought to be on the run and was briefly stopped by French police near the Belgian border.
The heavy bombing raid comes just two days after the militant group claimed coordinated attacks in Paris that killed 128 people, the defence ministry said
Ten French jets were used in the secret mission in which 20 bombs were dropped on the ISIS city
The airstrikes have been carried out in revenge for the deadly Paris attacks in which 128 people were killed
Activists from anti-ISIS group Raqqa is being Slaughtered Silently released maps identifying where the French airstrike hit last night
The activists revealed one of the sites (picutured) which the French had bombed was where American hostage Kayla Mueller was killed earlier this year
French fighter jets have carried out a series of 'massive' air strikes on Raqqa, destroying a key ISIS command centre and training camp in Syria
Four French officials acknowledged that police had Abdeslam in their grasp, when they stopped a car carrying him and two other men near the Belgian border early today.
By then, hours had passed since authorities identified Abdeslam as the renter of a Volkswagen Polo that carried hostage takers to the Paris theater where so many were killed.
Three French police officials and a top French security official confirmed that officers let Abdeslam go after checking his ID.
They spoke on condition of anonymity, lacking authorization to publicly disclose such details.
Clues about the extent of the terror plot have emerged from Baghdad, where senior Iraqi officials told the AP that France and other countries had been warned on Thursday of an imminent attack.
An Iraqi intelligence dispatch warned that Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had ordered his followers to immediately launch gun and bomb attacks and take hostages inside the countries of the coalition fighting them in Iraq and Syria.
The Iraqi dispatch, which was obtained by the AP, provided no details on when or where the attack would take place, and a senior French security official told the AP that French intelligence gets these kinds of warnings 'all the time' and 'every day.'
However, Iraqi intelligence officials told the AP that they also warned France about specific details: Among them, that the attackers were trained for this operation and sent back to France from Raqqa, the Islamic State's de-facto capital.
The officials also said that a sleeper cell in France then met with the attackers after their training and helped them to execute the plan. There were 24 people involved in the operation, they said: 19 attackers and five others in charge of logistics and planning.
Francois Hollande has already spoken out against ISIS, confirming that airstrikes will continue to strike 'each time national security is at stake'
French police are hunting for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old born in Brussels, wanted in connection to Friday's attacks in Paris. Police have warned that he is very dangerous
PARIS MASSACRE: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE DEADLIEST TERROR ATTACK TO HIT EUROPE IN A DECADE
At least 129 people are dead, and another 352 injured, after three teams of jihadis struck the Stade de France football stadium, a handful of bars and cafes, and then finally the Bataclan concert hall.
FIRST TWO ATTACKS: STADE DE FRANCE
- The attacks began at 8.17pm GMT at the Stade de France where the French football team was hosting Germany in an international friendly.
- The game was being watched by 80,000 spectators, among them was President Francois Hollande who had to be evacuated from the stadium.
- The first explosion, a suicide bombing, was at an entrance to the stadium. Ahmad al Mohammed, 25, from Syria approached the gate with a match ticket when he was frisked by a security guard who turned him away.
- Al Mohammed backed away from the gate and detonated his vest at about 8.20pm GMT near Gate D of the stadium, killing one other person.
- A second suicide bomber, Bilal Hadfi, blew himself up near Gate H several minutes later. No one else was reported killed.
THIRD ATTACK: LE PETIT CAMBODGE AND LE CARILLON BAR
- At 8.25pm GMT a separate team of gunmen arrived in a Black Seat and attacked diners at popular Cambodian restaurant Le Petit Cambodge and Le Carillon bar in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin area of eastern Paris, killing 15.
Timeline of events: Eight bombers carried out the devastating attacks on Friday night, leaving 129 people dead and another 352 injured
FOURTH ATTACK: LA CASA NOSTRA PIZZERIA AND LA BELLE EQUIPE BAR
- The same unit then drove about 500 yards to La Casa Nostra pizzeria and opened fire on diners on the terrace of the restaurant, killing at least five people.
- From there, the militants drove around a mile south-east – apparently past the area of the Bataclan concert venue – to launch another attack, this time on La Belle Equipe bar in Rue de Charonne. At least 19 people died after the terrace was sprayed with bullets at 8.38pm GMT. The attackers then drove off.
FIFTH ATTACK: CAFÉ ‘COMPTOIR VOLTAIRE’
- Five minutes later, Ibrahim Abdeslam, 31, set off a suicide vest outside the outside cafe 'Comptoir Voltaire' on the Boulevard Voltaire and close to the Bataclan theatre. He hired a black Seat car used in the attack.
SIXTH ATTACK: BATACLAN MUSIC HALL
- At 8.49pm GMT, the third group (believed to be three men and a woman) armed with AK-47s stormed the Bataclan music hall and began shooting members of the crowd. Survivors claim three blew themselves up and a fourth person was shot dead by police before they could detonate their bomb.
SEVENTH ATTACK: NEAR STADE DE FRANCE
- At around 8.50pm GMT a third blast took place near the Stade de France, this time by a McDonald’s restaurant on the fringes of the stadium. The boom caused terror among spectators who had already been attempting to flee the stadium following the first two explosions. The attacker who detonated his suicide vest was identified as a 20-year-old French man living in Belgium.
Tearful members of the public view flowers and tributes on the pavement near the scene of the concert hall massacre on Friday
AFTERMATH:
- On Saturday morning, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks across Paris, saying 'eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles' conducted a 'blessed attack on... Crusader France'.
- On Saturday afternoon, three people travelling in a grey VW Polo were arrested at the French/Belgian border when police traced the car after it was sighted outside the Bataclan theatre at the time of the attacks.
- One of the Bataclan suspects was found carrying a Syrian passport under the name Ahmed Almuhamed who travelled to France as a migrant through Greece on October 3. Ferry tickets reveal he travelled with another man named as Mohammed Almuhamed.
- Omar Ismaël Mostefai, 29, from Courcouronnes, Paris was also named as a Bataclan suicide bomber. The petty criminal and father-of-one was known to police as a radical and had travelled to Algeria and Syria. He was identified by the fingerprint on a severed digit found after he detonated his suicide belt. Mostefai is believed to have been radicalised by a Belgian hate preacher of Moroccan descent claimed to have regularly preached at his mosque in South West France.
- Mostefai's father, a brother and other family members have been held and are being questioned.
- The black Seat Leon used by the terrorists who murdered diners outside the Casa Nostra pizza restaurant and the La Belle Équipe cafe was found abandoned 20 minutes away in Montreuil with a cache of weapons inside.
- Seven people were detained in Belgium linked to the atrocities - three at the border and four in Brussels. Five are from the Molenbeek area of Brussels known as a 'den of terrorists'.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- French police are still hunting for three gunmen on the run, including Brussels-born Frenchman Salah Abdeslam, and an ISIS bombmaker likely to have made the suicide vests.
- An international arrest warrant has been issued for Abdeslam, 26, who is accused of renting a Volkswagen Polo used by the suicide bombers. He is one of three brothers believed to be at the heart of the eight-strong ISIS cell.
- It emerged on Sunday night that police found Abdeslam near the Belgian border early Saturday but let him go after he showed them his ID card. Officers pulled over the car being driven by Abdelslam on Saturday morning on the A2 motorway between Paris and Brussels. Two other men were also in the Seat car. At the time, officers in Paris knew that Abdeslam had rented the car used by the killers which had been abandoned near the theatre but the information had not been transmitted to those responsible for conducting the border checks.
- His brother Ibrahim, 31, blew himself up in a solo attack outside cafe Comptoir Voltaire after renting a black Seat found abandoned today filled with AK-47s and ammunition. A third sibling, named as Mohamed Abdeslam, has been arrested in the Belgian capital.
- On Sunday evening the French defence ministry announced that the country's warplanes had bombed Islamic State's stronghold in Syria's Raqa, destroying a command post and a training camp, the defence ministry said. Ten fighter jets were involved, dropping 20 bombs.
Last night French intelligence officials were quizzing a man suspected of being a quartermaster to the Paris murder gang.
The suspect – identified only as 'Vlatko V', 51 – had driven 750 miles from Montenegro through Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, before he was stopped on an autobahn in Bavaria last Thursday.
Officers discovered eight loaded AK-47 assault rifles in secret compartments of his Volkswagen Golf.
Three handguns, two hand grenades, fuses, detonators and almost half a pound of TNT completed the mini arsenal.
Also found in the vehicle were several Parisian telephone numbers and other addresses.
The man, who is Muslim according to unconfirmed reports, has no apparent previous criminal record or specific links to radical Islamists.
But police believe he is linked to organised crime groups in Montenegro that may have agreed to supply weaponry to jihadi groups.
A German intelligence source said police officers blundered by not reporting the seizure to anti-terror specialists in Berlin, who may have alerted France.
It also emerged that French security police arrested a man in August on suspicion of plotting a terror attack on a concert venue.
The man was held just two months after he returned from a six-day trip to Raqqa, Syria.
According to reports, the suspect confessed that he was ordered by an IS leader to return to Europe or France to carry out an atrocity and suggested a busy concert hall as an ideal target.
The apparent intelligence failures come amid an ongoing inquiry into the fatal errors by the security services in the lead up to the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris in January.
A French couple look scared as they stand together inside the Stade de France after the terror attack
Thousands of fans poured on to the pitch following the final whistle of the France vs Germany game
French President Francois Hollande was watching France play Germany at the Stade de France when his bodyguard leaned over and told him of the chaos unfolding in Paris
A victim under a blanket lays dead outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris where 86 concert-goers were massacred by jihadi gunmen
French special forces evacuate people, including an injured man holding his head, as people gather near the Bataclan concert hall following fatal shootings
Mourners light candles and gather together as they tribute to the victims of the Paris attacks
Chaos and panic descended onto the streets of Paris as security services desperately tried to regain control of the city
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