France: 7 arrested in anti-terror raids, attack thwarted
PARIS — French anti-terrorism police have arrested seven men in Strasbourg and Marseille who had links to Syria and had been plotting an attack on France for several months, the interior minister said Monday.
A series of arrests in June and this past Sunday put an end to the plot and “allowed us to thwart a terrorist act that had been envisaged for a long time on our soil,” Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters in Paris. France remains under a state of emergency imposed after deadly Islamic State attacks on Paris last year.
The suspects are believed to have initially wanted to target the Euro 2016 European soccer tournament earlier this year but later focused on another target, possibly in Paris or Marseille, according to a security official. The official was not authorized to be publicly named speaking about ongoing investigations.
The June arrests involved people behind financing the alleged attack plot, while the Sunday arrests targeted the operational team — and both groups were under orders from unidentified commanders in Syria, the official said. Weapons were also seized in Sunday’s arrests, the official said.