France launches air strikes on IS in Syria after Friday's attacks on Paris

French security forces struck back on two fronts last night following Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, launching a bombing campaign against Islamic State in Syria, as a manhunt got under way for a man suspected of being on the run after the attacks.

At least 132 people died in a series of shootings and suicide bombings in the French capital as terrorists attacked bars, the area around the Stade de France, and killed music fans at a popular venue.

French forces last night launched what defence officials called a “large bombing campaign” on Islamic State’s de facto capital, Raqqa. There were reports of at least 30 air strikes.

The manhunt was launched for Salah Abdeslam, a 26-year-old Frenchman born in the Belgian capital, Brussels. Police warned he is dangerous, saying “do not intervene yourself”.

International manhunt underway for Paris terror suspect Salah Abdeslam, one of three broth… https://t.co/LL1Lj4ipdo pic.twitter.com/0DDAdc1pc6

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 15, 2015

Four French officials told Associated Press that police had questioned and released Abdeslam hours after the Paris attacks. The questioning came when police pulled over a car near the Belgian border, hours after authorities had already identified Abdeslam as the renter of a Volkswagen Polo that was abandoned at the scene of the attack on the Bataclan concert hall.

He was one of three people in a car stopped by police on Saturday morning. Three French police officials and a top security official confirmed that officers stopped Abdeslam and checked his ID and then let him go.

It comes after it emerged that coalition forces fighting Islamic State had been warned by Iraqi intelligence of an imminent attack, according to Associated Press.

12 inspiring images of peace from the aftermath of the Paris attacks https://t.co/mVVFdtz4QF pic.twitter.com/r8FgntcrxL

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 15, 2015

Also, AFP reported that Turkey had prevented an Islamic State plan to attack Istanbul on Friday. The French agency said Turkish police had taken five people into custody and quoted a security source as saying: “We believe they were planning an attack in Istanbul on the same day as the Paris attacks... The initial investigation shows we foiled a major attack.”

Before the alert for Abdeslam was issued, French police said they were searching for a Frenchman believed to have been directly involved in the violence. The man, one of three brothers believed to be involved in the killings in central Paris, rented a black Volkswagen Polo used by the attackers who left at least 89 people dead inside the Bataclan concert hall.

Last night, Parisians turned out in huge numbers as a commemorative Mass was held at Notre Dame Cathedral for the victims.

Panic in Paris as 'loud bang' causes alert https://t.co/r0hTlvSoJv pic.twitter.com/cxT2ZhZ9wR

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 15, 2015

During an 80-minute service inside the French landmark, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois called on the country not to “provoke aggression”, but to remember the dead.

He said: “We pray for hope, not hate. The main purpose of us meeting is to pray for the dead, their relatives, the wounded, our country.”

Crowds had gathered behind heavily controlled barriers around Place Jean Paul II square throughout the afternoon, eager to be among those permitted on the pews inside.

While a few hundred were allowed to scurry into the cathedral shortly before dignitaries arrived, the sheer volume of those waiting far outweighed the space available.

Many were content to stand outside and listen to the service through amplifiers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people who had been gathered at Place de la Republique in central Paris dispersed suddenly last night in what police later said seemed to be a false alarm.

With Parisians’ nerves still on edge after Friday’s shootings and suicide bombings, people suddenly began running away from the square.

Woman shares horrific account of pretending to be dead during Paris attacks https://t.co/Fm7NCcmoKJ pic.twitter.com/Y2migxzSBf

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) November 15, 2015

“There was crowd movement, apparently with no reason,” a police official at the square told Reuters. “We hadn’t heard anything and all the people we questioned hadn’t heard anything either.”

TV pictures that had earlier shown people gathered around a monument to commemorate those killed in Friday’s Islamist militant shootings later showed the scene nearly empty. An official from the emergency services said some members of the public had believed they had heard gunfire.

Gaelle Daligaud, 43, who came with her Moroccan Muslim neighbour Rajaa Hanine, said she wanted to be there with her “to show to those terrorists that they haven’t won, that their stupidity can’t divide us. We needed it”.

On the central statue, amid flowers and candles, a gigantic banner read: “Not afraid.” In a corner of the square, a wall was spray-painted with the City of Paris motto: “Fluctuat Nec Mergitur”, which is Latin for “buffeted [by waves] but not sunk”.