A MAN HAS been arrested in a Paris suburb for planning an attack on “one or two churches” in the city.
The man, a 24-year-old Algerian national, has been detained by French police since Sunday when he shot himself accidentally and had to call an ambulance.
AFP is reporting this afternoon that French police have found documents mentioning Al Qaeda and Islamic State group at the home of the man.
Police are also saying that they found communications on the man’s computer between him and someone in Syria who had asked that he target a church.
The man was arrested after police followed a trail of blood – which he had creating by shooting himself – to his car where they discovered a stash of weapons and information about suspected targets.
France 24 is reporting this afternoon that the man is also suspected of the murder of Aurélie Châtelain, a 32-year-old fitness instructor who was killed in a suburb outside Paris on Sunday.
The stash of weapons discovered by the police in the man’s car included a number of handguns, a Kalashikov assault rifle and bullet-proof vests. A further three Kalashnikovs were found at his apartment.
Speaking today, French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said:
France, like other European countries, is facing a terror threat of an unprecedented nature and amplitude… we are maintaining total and constant vigilance.
In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in January, in which 11 people were killed at the offices of the satirical magazine and six more around the country, an additional €400 million has been invested in an escalated security operation.
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