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1st LD Writethru: No info contradicting French view on IS's responsibility for Paris attacks: White House

Xinhua, November 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

The White House said on Saturday there was no information to contradict the initial French assessment that the Islamic State (IS) was responsible for Friday's attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people and injured 352 others.

"The team (National Security Council) reviewed the intelligence picture, noting that we had no information to contradict the initial French assessment of ISIL's responsibility," said a White House statement, referring to the extremist group's another acronym.

U.S. President Barack Obama, currently en route to Turkey for the G20 Summit, had already been briefed on the latest intelligence surrounding the Paris attacks by his national security team who noted that there was no specific or credible threat to the United States, said the statement.

A group of seven people, including one man previously known to French authorities due to his ties with IS extremists, killed 129 people and wounded 352 more on Friday night, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

According to authorities, a Syrian passport was found near one body of the attackers, but the name in the passport was unknown to French security officials.

French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday the IS was responsible for the attacks, and vowed a "merciless" response to the group.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on Saturday the U.S. military for the first time targeted a senior IS leader in Libya in an air strike overnight.

The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Friday in Libya targetting Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi national who was a longtime al Qaeda operative and senior IS leader in Libya, said a Pentagon statement.

Although the Pentagon did not confirm the death of Nabil, the statement said his death "will degrade ISIL's ability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States."

However, the Pentagon stressed that the operation was authorized and initiated prior to the attacks in Paris. Enditem