Flowers are placed in a window shattered by a bullet as people pay their respects to the victims of the attacks on Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia)restaurant and the Carillon Hotel during the first of three days of national mourning in Paris. (AP Photo)
Paris – French warplanes pounded Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold Sunday in retaliation for a wave of coordinated attacks claimed by the jihadists which left 129 people dead in Paris.
As the nation prepared to mourn the victims with a minute of silence Monday, French police released a photograph of a suspect also wanted in Belgium where it is suspected the attacks may have been planned.
In the first strikes since Friday’s carnage which killed at least 129 and wounded more than 350, French warplanes bombed IS targets in Raqa, the Islamists’ de facto capital in Syria.
The raid destroyed an IS command post, jihadist recruitment center, a munitions depot and a “terrorist” training camp, the defense ministry said.
The operation was conducted in coordination with US forces by a dozen aircraft which took off from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, it said.
President François Hollande has denounced the Paris attacks — the worst in the country’s history — as an “act of war” and vowed to hit back against Islamic State “without mercy.”
French police said they were seeking a “dangerous” suspect, 26-year-old Salah Abdeslam who is said to be one of three brothers linked to the slaughter.
He is believed to be either on the run or one of the gunmen who died during the attacks, security sources said.