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French President Francois Hollande has secretly 'ordered the deaths of 40 jihadists' - as France launches its fightback against Islamic State.

On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, details of at least 40 clandestine operations to kill "high value" jihadist targets in the Middle East and Africa have emerged in a new book.

The country has been the target of numerous ISIS -related attacks in the last three years - and Hollande is said to be waging his own private war.

Indeed, author Vincent Nouzille claims that Hollande has secretly pledged to hunt down more enemies of the state than any of his predecessors since the country's so-called "dirty war" in Algeria in the 1950s.

It's claimed that he's ordered special forces, air force and the "action" wing of the DGSE intelligence services - the French equivalent of the UK's MI6 and America's CIA - to target terrorists who threaten the French way of life.

(Image: REUTERS)

Nouzille, an investigative journalist, claims that since 2013 around 40 terrorists have been killed "either by the army, by the DGSE or more indirectly by allied countries on the basis of intelligence provided by France".

While some are classed as 'classic' military operations, in his book "Erreurs Fatales" Nouzille claims that other missions are in a legal "grey zone".

In interviews last year Hollande revealed he had ordered four killings - earning him widespread criticism at the time for revealing defence secrets.

He said then: "The army, the DGSE, have a list of people who are thought responsible for taking hostages or acts against our so-called interest".

(Image: AFP)

French secret service are believed to have routinely undertaken so called "homo" - standing for homicide - operations in the past, but rarely acknowledged them.

The Times reports that Nouzille writes of Mr Hollande's zeal for operations to warn terrorists that "France will come quietly and kill them".

Nouzille writes: "Francois Hollande gave clear instructions to the military chiefs and the DGSE: they have a green light to kill abroad, including clandestinely, terrorist chiefs and other presumed enemies of France."

He also claims that some of the targets are French citizens.

(Image: AFP)

"That represents about one operation per month - a rhythm not seen since the 1950s at the time of the Algerian war," he continues.

"The president and the military want to show that France retaliates against all attacks against its interests and tracks down tirelessly the commanders in order to eliminate them."

Islamic State attacks on France have intensified in the two years since the Charlie Hebdo massacre - where 12 people including the editor and celebrated cartoonists were slaughtered at the offices of the satirical magazine on January 7 2015.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

Among numerous others they include:

June 2015 - a man found decapitated and several others injured at a factory near Lyon

- a man found decapitated and several others injured at a factory near Lyon August 2015 - a mass shooting averted on a high-speed train travelling to Paris when a terrorist was subdued by passengers

- a mass shooting averted on a high-speed train travelling to Paris when a terrorist was subdued by passengers November 2015 - 130 people salughtered in the Paris attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers at a rock concert, outside a stadium and in restaurants and bars

- 130 people salughtered in the Paris attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers at a rock concert, outside a stadium and in restaurants and bars July 2016 - 84 people killed when a lorry driven by a terrorist into a crowd in Nice

- 84 people killed when a lorry driven by a terrorist into a crowd in Nice July 2016 - A French priest taking mass in church being killed by two armed attackers

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

There has been no official comment on the claims made in the book.

But officials are said to be privately arguing that the actions claimed to have been ordered by Hollande are a necessary part of warfare.

Chief of defence staff General Pierre de Villiers admitted in an interview in 2014 France had "neutralised" seven out of eight leaders of one planned attack on French interests.

(Image: AFP)

A former anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere said: "You are not going to go to Raqqa and deliver an international arrest warrant to an armed individual who will use Kalashnikovs or knives to kill, cut heads off and stage these acts."

While many will agree, some are concerned at the secrecy surrounding such acts.

The head of the main judicial union, the Syndicat de la Magistrature, Clarisse Taron, says: "These are people who are being subjects to targeted killing without justice running its course.

"In a democracy that raises questions."