France foils ‘imminent attack’ as 4 arrested, explosive found

PARIS — Anti-terrorism forces arrested four people Friday in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl, and uncovered a makeshift laboratory with the explosive TATP and other ingredients for fabricating a bomb.

France’s top security official said the raid thwarted an “imminent attack.”

A police official said the teen had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in a recent video.

The prosecutor’s office said around 2.5 ounces of TATP were seized in the Montpellier-area home of a 20-year-old man, along with a liter each of acetone, oxygenated water and sulfuric acid. TATP, which can be made from readily available materials, was used in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attack in Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists.

Two other men were also arrested, a 33-year-old and a 26-year-old, according to the prosecutor’s office,

The police official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said that one of the suspects was believed to be planning a suicide attack but that the investigation had not yet uncovered a specific target.

He said one person in the group had tried to reach Syria in 2015 and was known to intelligence services.

The group — notably the girl — attracted new attention with their social media postings, he said.

Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said the arrests in three locations in the Montpellier area “thwarted an imminent attack on French soil.”

Also Friday, the Paris prosecutor’s office said the suspect in last week’s machete attack at the Louvre Museum is facing preliminary charges of attempted murder and association with a terrorist organization.