France foils terror plot, 2 arrested
paris — Police arrested two men in Marseille on Tuesday on suspicion of planning an attack just days before the first round of France’s presidential election, with bomb-making materials and guns found in searches.
The foiled plot sparked fears the closing days of the campaign could be a target for extremists ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Elite police and agents from France’s domestic intelligence agency detained the two Frenchmen — identified only as 23-year-old Clement B. and Mahiedine M., 29 — with Interior Minister Matthias Fekl saying they were known to be “radicalised.”
“They were aiming to commit in the very short term, in other words in the next few days, an attack on French soil,” Fekl said.
Police found guns and bombmaking materials during searches across Marseille. Later in the day, soldiers and police were still sealing off a road in the city where one of the men was arrested.
France remains under a state of emergency after being a frequent target of terror attacks that have killed more than 230 people since January 2015.
In the deadliest attack, Daesh gunmen and suicide bombers slaughtered 130 people in Paris in November 2015.
Candidates have been heavily guarded during the election campaign, but so far there have been few security scares.
Last week, photos of the two suspects in the attack plot were distributed to the security teams for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron.
“The photos were passed to my security service from Thursday,” Le Pen said, while an aide to Macron also confirmed his campaign team received the pictures.
Conservative candidate Francois Fillon was also warned about the danger last week, an aide said. —
They were aiming to commit in the very short term, in other words in the next few days, an attack on French soil Matthias Fekl, Interior Minister