French Police Arrest Man ‘Planning To Attack Churches’

HJ

French police have arrested a man suspected of planning an attack on “one or two churches” in a Paris suburb, the country’s interior minister has said. BBC reports:

The man, a 24-year-old Algerian national, was detained on Sunday in Paris after he apparently shot himself by accident and called an ambulance. He is also being questioned over the murder of a woman on Sunday.

France has stepped up security in the wake of recent attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket. The man was known to security services as having expressed a wish to travel to Syria, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

When police arrived at the scene on Sunday, they followed a trail of blood to the suspect’s car, where they found weapons and notes on potential targets. The documents established “beyond doubt that the individual was planning an imminent attack, probably on one or two churches,” said Mr Cazeneuve.