France, U.S. vow to take down Islamic State despite video threat

Show Caption Hide Caption Islamic State purportedly threatens to attack Washington In a new video surfacing just days after the Paris attacks, men claiming to be Islamic State militants threaten an attack on Washington D.C.

PARIS — A chilling new Islamic State video promised deadly consequences for Washington and the West on Monday while France stepped up efforts to crush the brutal militants at home and in the Middle East.

The video, released by an Iraq-based ISIL group, warned that nations taking up arms against the would-be caliphate will face a fate similar to France, where coordinated attacks Friday in Paris left more than 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

"We tell countries participating in the crusader campaign: We swear that you will experience a similar day to the one that France experiences; since if we have struck France in its heart – in Paris – then we swear that we will strike America at its heart – in Washington," said a militant who calls himself Al-Ajkrar Al-Iraqi, according to a translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The bloodshed Friday sparked an intensive crackdown on terrorism across France. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said raids over the last two days resulted in 23 arrests; 104 people were placed under house arrest. At one apartment in Lyon, five people were arrested and police seized a rocket launcher and other weapons, French media reported.

President Obama and French President Francois Hollande each vowed Monday to crush the insurgents' effort to create an Islamic caliphate out of a swath of Syria and Iraq.

Obama, speaking at an economic summit in Turkey, reiterated his position that U.S. ground troops won't be used to fight ISIL, instead supporting intensified airstrikes and support for troops from the region.

"There will be setbacks and there will be successes," Obama said, adding that "we have the right strategy and we are going to see it through."

In Paris, Hollande promised at a rare, joint session of the French Parliament that France will work with the U.S., Russia and other partners to "destroy" the Islamic State. Hollande also said he plans to extend his nation's state of emergency for three months.

France retaliated with airstrikes Sunday, destroying a training camp and a munitions dump in ISIL's de-facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. The U.S. conducted airstrikes Monday, targeting hundreds of oil trucks in eastern Syria, The New York Times reported. The Times cited U.S. officials who said the airstrikes were planned before Friday's horror in Paris.

The threatening video was released by an Islamic State group near Kirkuk, an oil-rich Kurdish city in northern Iraq that has been the site of fierce fighting between Kurds and Islamic State militants. The video also issued a threat to Europe.

"I say to European countries: We are coming to you with car bombs and explosions. We are coming to you with explosive vests and silencers. You cannot respond to us because we are far stronger now than we were before," another speaker, Abu Gharib Al-Jazae'ri said in the video. The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.

Also Monday, French officials reportedly identified the leader of the Paris attack as Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Brussels prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt, however, told Reuters the report was an unconfirmed rumor.

French radio station RTL described Abaaoud, 27, as “one of the most active (Islamic State) executioners” in Syria. Reuters reported that Abaaoud is currently in the war-torn country. His brother Mohammad reportedly was interviewed and released by Belgian authorities.

Abaaoud is believed to be linked to thwarted attacks on a high-speed train bound for the French capital and a church in the Paris area earlier this year, the Associated Press reported, citing an official who was not authorized to publicly speak about the investigation.

In Brussels, a manhunt continued for at least one suspect in the attacks. The sweep through a densely populated neighborhood with a substantial Muslim population failed to deliver Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French national. Three people were taken into custody over the weekend in the Molenbeek neighborhood, a relatively poor area that has been linked to jihad in the past.

The 26-year-old is the brother of one of seven terrorists who died in the attacks. Another brother was arrested in Belgium, authorities said.

[AppelàTémoin] La #PJ recherche 1 individu susceptible d'être impliqué ds les attentats du 13/11/2015 #ParisAttacks pic.twitter.com/Gpr4MY1I53 — Police Nationale (@PNationale) November 15, 2015

Two more suicide bombers involved in the attacks were identified by authorities Monday. Paris prosecutors named an attacker who blew himself up in the Bataclan music hall Friday as Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old French national who was charged in a terrorism investigation in 2012.

The broadcaster BFMTV reported that three of his relatives were detained by police.

Prosecutors said Amimour had once been under judicial supervision but dropped off authorities’ radar in 2013. An international warrant had been issued for his arrest. AFP said Amimour's family claimed he went to Syria two years ago.

Another bomber who targeted the national stadium was found with a Syrian passport bearing the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib, prosecutors said. Fingerprints from the attacker match those of someone who passed through Greece in October, they added.

The passport's discovery raised concerns that Islamic State militants may be crossing into Turkey before moving to Western Europe alongside the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who have entered Europe this year, many of them fleeing the civil war in Syria.

Authorities previously identified one of the suicide bombers as Omar Ismail Mostefai. A Turkish official told the AP on Monday that authorities flagged him to their French counterparts as a possible terror suspect in 2014 but received no response. Paris prosecutors said he was been flagged as having ties to extremism five years ago.

European media outlets including The Telegraph identified two other suicide bombers as Bilal Hadfi, 20, and Brahim Abdeslam, 31.

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara