Indications have emerged that the French government may have been warned of imminent attacks on its territory by the Islamist State.
According to a document obtained by the Associated Press, Iraqi intelligence sent a dispatch to their French counterparts warning them of a planned attack by IS on coalition countries involved in the fight against them in Syria and Iraq.
These countries were identified as France, Iran and Russia.
The dispatch reportedly confirmed that leader of IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ordered an attack on coalition countries “through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days”.
The dispatch showed that the Iraqis had no specific information about when or where the attacks would take place, just as a French intelligence official told AP they got information of such nature “all the time” and “every day.”
However, six Iraqi officials confirmed the dispatch, saying that it contained more specific information than the French were making public, warning them specifically of a potential threat.
According to two of the Iraqi officials, they supplied information to the effect that attacks had been planned in Raqqa, Syria – the de-facto capital of IS, that attackers had been specifically trained for the mission, and some of them would be sent to France.
Speaking under condition of anonymity because were not authorised to talk to the press, the officials said 24 terrorists were involved in the attacks: 19 were attackers and 5 took charge of logistics and planning.
The Paris terror attacks claimed 129 lives and left at least 350 injured, 99 of them critically ill.