Iraq warned France about attacks day before assault

French security officer says such intelligence arrives 'all the time'

Iraqi intelligence officials warned members of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group of imminent assaults by the militants one day before last week's attacks in Paris killed at least 129 people.

Iraqi intelligence sent a dispatch saying the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had ordered an attack on coalition countries fighting against them in Iraq and Syria, as well as on Iran and Russia, through bombings or other attacks in the days ahead.

The dispatch said the Iraqis had no specific details on when or where the attack would take place, and a senior French security official told The Associated Press that French intelligence gets this kind of communication "all the time" and "every day".

Without commenting on the Iraqi warning, a senior US intelligence official said he was not aware of any information about a threat sent to Western governments that was specific enough to have thwarted the Paris attacks.

Officials from the US, French and other Western governments have expressed worries for months about Islamic State-inspired attacks by militants who fought in Syria, the official noted. In recent weeks, the sense of danger had spiked.

Six senior Iraqi officials confirmed the information in the dispatch, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, and four of these intelligence officials said they also warned France specifically of a potential attack.

Two officials said that France was warned beforehand of details that French authorities have yet to make public.

"We have recovered information from our direct sources in the Islamic State terrorist organization about the orders issued by terrorist 'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi' directing all members of the organization to implement an international attack that includes all coalition countries, in addition to Iran and the Russian Federation, through bombings or assassinations or hostage taking in the coming days.

"We do not have information on the date and place for implementing these terrorist operations at this time," the Iraqi dispatch read in part.

'Planned in Raqqa'

Among the other warnings cited by Iraqi officials was that the Paris attacks appear to have been planned in Raqqa, Syria - the Islamic State's de-facto capital - where the attackers were trained specifically for this operation and with the intention of sending them to France.

The officials also said a sleeper cell in France then met with the attackers after their training and helped them execute the plan.

They said there were 24 people involved in the operation: 19 attackers and five others in charge of logistics and planning.

The officials all spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility on Saturday for the gun and bomb attacks on a stadium, a concert hall and Paris cafes that also wounded 350 people, 99 of them seriously.

Seven of the attackers blew themselves up. Police have been searching intensively for accomplices.

AP - Reuters

(China Daily 11/17/2015 page12)