France 'At War With Jihadism And Radical Islamism,' Prime Minister Says

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls delivers his speech during an homage to the 17 victims of last week terrorist attacks, at the French national Assembly in Paris on Tuesday.

Remy de la Mauviniere/AP

France's prime minister says his country "is at war with terrorism, jihadism and radical Islamism" but not with ordinary Muslims and their religion.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Islam, the country's second most common religion after Catholicism, "has its place in France."

After Valls' speech, lawmakers broke into "La Marseillaise," the national anthem, and applause. It came the same day that funerals were held in Paris for the victims of last week's attacks.

Valls' remarks came ahead of a 488-to-1 vote to re-authorize French airstrikes against militants of the Islamic State in Iraq. French law requires a vote every four months to extend such operations. (The lone dissenter, a center-right member of parliament, argued that the airstrikes were making the situation worse, a German web site reported.)

The two brothers who killed 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo claimed allegiance to al-Qaida, while the man who took hostages and killed four people in a Kosher grocery store had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

France's airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq are part of a larger international effort against the group in Iraq and Syria that also includes the U.S. strikes.