NEW DELHI: Reports have emerged that senior Iraqi intelligence officials had warned coalition countries of imminent assaults by the ISIS just one day before Friday's deadly attacks in Paris.
Iraqi intelligence had sent a dispatch saying the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had ordered an attack on coalition countries fighting against them as well as on Iran and Russia, as per foreign reports.
The attack was ordered through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, reportedly said that Iraqi intelligence agencies had obtained information that some countries would be targeted, including France, the United States and Iran, and had shared the intelligence with those countries.
Meanwhile, true to their vow of retaliation, France has carried out massive raids in Syria, their biggest to date, in co-ordination with US forces, striking the ISIS stronghold in Raqqa just days after the terror outfit carried a series of coordinated attacks that killed around 129 people.
Raqqa is seen as the de facto capital of the Islamic State’s territory.
The French defence ministry has claimed that the raid was launched simultaneously from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
“The raid, including 10 fighter jets, was launched simultaneously from the UAE and Jordan. Twenty bombs were dropped,” the statement from the ministry said.
The mission that was carried out last evening was carried out with the coordinated aid of forces by the US.
According to the statement, the airstrikes struck a command centre, recruitment centre for jihadists, a munitions depot, and a training camp for fighters. The sites targeted had previously been identified on reconnaissance flights.