Islamic State: France remains ‘top of the list of targets’

The Islamic State claim of responsibility for last night’s Paris attacks says France and its supporters “will remain at the top of the list of [its] targets.”

“The stench of death will not leave their noses as long as they remain at the forefront of the Crusaders’ campaign, dare to curse our prophet, boast of a war on Islam in France, and strike Muslims in the lands of the caliphate with warplanes that were of no use to them in the streets and rotten alleys of Paris,” the statement posted online says.

France is part of the US-led coalition that has been striking Islamic State in Syria and Iraq for the past year, and has been targeted by jihadists in the past because of its perceived tolerance of speech deemed offensive to Islam.

The claim was made in statements in Arabic and French released online and circulated by supporters of the group. Supporters also circulated an audio version read by an unidentified speaker whose voice strongly resembled that of an announcer for the IS radio station Al-Bayan.

— AP