The Pope Francis has revealed that he was the target of a double assassination attempt during his visit to Baghdad in March 2021

According to Reuters, in a quote published on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming release of his autobiography, the pontiff stressed that he was informed by police after his flight landed in Baghdad in March 2021 that at least two suicide bombers had targeted one of his planned events.

“A woman armed with explosives, a young suicide bomber, was heading to Mosul to be blown up during the papal visit,” the pontiff wrote, according to an excerpt of the book published by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. “And a van had also been prepared with the same intention.”

Pope Francis’ visit to Mosul was seen as a key moment in his trip to Iraq, as the country’s second-largest city was under the control of Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. The pope visited the ruins of four churches there and appealed for peace.

In the excerpt published Tuesday, Francis said the Vatican had been informed by British intelligence about the assassination attempt. Indeed, he admits in the book, he had asked a security official the next day what had happened to the would-be bombers.

“The commander replied succinctly, ‘They don’t exist any more’.”

His new autobiography, titled “Hope,” is due to be published on Jan. 14.