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France - Islamist ‘planning terror attack on churches’ arrested in Paris. (Fr24).
French police have arrested a man found in possession of handguns and Kalashnikov assault rifles who is suspected of planning terror attacks on churches in France.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Wednesday that the 24-year-old suspect, an IT student who is also an Algerian national, was arrested on Sunday.
He is also suspected of killing Aurélie Châtelain, a 32-year-old fitness instructor, on Sunday in the Villejuif suburb of Paris, Cazeneuve said.
The man was arrested after he called emergency services having apparently shot himself in the leg by accident, a police source told Reuters.
When paramedics arrived they saw that it was a gunshot wound and called the police, who followed a blood trail to a nearby car that contained an “arsenal of weapons”.
In an eerie reminder of January’s Charlie Hebdo attacks, in which 17 people were killed by Islamist gunmen, the haul included a number of handguns, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and bullet proof vests. A search of the man’s apartment later uncovered three more Kalashnikov rifles.
“Documents were also found that establish without any ambiguity that this individual was planning an attack on one or two churches,” Cazeneuve said .
Cazeneuve added that the man, who has not been named, was known to intelligence services for wanting to fight with jihadists in Syria.
Jean-Louis Bruguière, a former French counter-terrorism magistrate, linked the arrest to the Islamic State (IS) group and warned that IS and other jihadist groups had an “evolving strategy” towards France.
"It’s a fact that we’re facing an increasing threat from terrorists and IS poses a very critical problem to France,” he said. “From what [Cazeneuve] said – it’s the first time a Catholic Church [was selected as a target]. It shows the scope of targets is widening.”
#UPDATE Suspect in foiled France attack had documents mentioning IS, Qaeda: prosecutor http://t.co/qAumGCTD37
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) April 22, 2015
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