Paris fanatics plotted Euro 2016 horror

THE terror cell which murdered 162 people in Paris and Brussels was ordered to hit the Euro 2016 football championships, it was claimed yesterday.

Gang member Mohamed Abrini, 31, who was captured last week, has told police that the summer tournament in France was a major target.

A police source told Liberation newspaper: ‘It just confirms that Belgium is an operational base that needs to be watched even more intensely.’

Abrini, a Belgian Moroccan, was arrested on Friday after almost five months on the run following the November 13 Paris attacks in which 130 people died. He was also the ‘man in the hat’ accompanying suicide bombers to Brussels Airport last month, as part of an operation in which 32 were killed.

Belgian prosecutors told at the weekend how the Islamic State cell intended to strike again in France, but attacked Brussels after being ‘surprised’ by a fast-moving investigation. Abrini reportedly said all orders came from the IS caliphate in Syria.

French prime minister Manuel Valls said: ‘It’s extra proof of the very high threats to the whole of Europe – and to France in particular. We will not let our guard down.’