Security forces thwart jihadists attack on military base

Security forces prevented an attack on French military installations this week by arresting four people whose leader had links to jailed jihadists, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

According to a source close to the situation, the attackers had planned to act in January 2016 and were targeting a senior military official in the south of France.

The four were aged between 16 and 23 and arrested in different places around France, the minister said. One was ex-military, he added.

The arrests were made at dawn on Monday, the day before Bastille Day, France’s national public holiday.

“Indeed on Monday 13th July at dawn, four individuals from 16 to 23 years of age, including a former soldier in the French navy, were arrested in the four corners of the country, by agents of the General Directorate for Internal Security (intelligence services) under the authority of the Justice system. These individuals who are currently in custody, planned to commit a terrorist act against French military structures,” Cazeneuve said.

The leader of the group was also known to have wanted to go and fight in Syria, Cazeneuve added.

“The main instigator had been detected for his activism on social media and for links with French jihadists currently in prison. He was also known to authorities for his desire to go to Syria, in the framework of the prevention measures put in place by the government to crack down on jihadist networks,” he said.

The announcement came as France is on high alert after 17 people were killed in attacks in and around Paris in January.

Last month, a suspected Islamist beheaded his boss and tried to blow up a U.S-owned industrial gas plant in the suburbs of Lyon.

French authorities have also confirmed that two fires that broke out at a petrochemical facility near Marseille on Tuesday were started deliberately. No motive has been established for the arson attacks, and Cazeneuve said no link had been made between the incidents.

“It is safe to say that there is no link at this point with events that recently took place in the Bouche du Rhone area,” Cazeneuve said.

He said security forces had now identified 1,850 people normally resident in France who were known to be involved in jihadist networks.

Of those, about 500 were currently fighting with Islamists in Syria and Iraq.

France had issued 118 prevention orders stopping people from leaving the country.