Foiled Paris attack was directed by IS, French prosecutor says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Three women arrested over a foiled attack in Paris were directed by so-called Islamic State (IS) from Syria, a French prosecutor has said, according to BBC News.

The group "wanted to make the women into fighters", Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

The suspects were held after police found a car filled with gas cylinders.

One of the women, identified as Sarah H, aged 23, had been engaged separately to two French jihadists, both now dead, who carried out attacks this year.

A policeman was stabbed during an operation late on Thursday, September 8 to arrest the women, after the discovery of the suspect car near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Sunday.

Police shot and wounded one of the women during the operation in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, south-east of the city.

One of those arrested, identified as Ines Madani, aged 19, reportedly declared her allegiance to IS in a letter. Molins said she had tried several times to travel to Syria.

The third woman was identified as Amel S, 39. Her 15-year-old daughter, who had been radicalised, was also taken into custody, the prosecutor said.

Molins said Sarah H had been engaged to Larossi Abballa, who killed two police officials in June before being shot dead himself, and subsequently to Adel Kermiche, who was shot dead by police in July after slitting the throat of an elderly priest in his church.

Her current fiance was arrested on Thursday, Molins said.

The women and their associates had already been under surveillance but the discovery of the gas-filled car near Notre Dame had pitted the security forces in "a race against time" to arrest them, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The three women were believed to be planning other imminent and violent attacks, he said.

Molins said the latest plot provided more evidence that IS was ready to use women for attacks.