French says six suspected Islamists "planning to train for jihad"

May 10, 2011, 13:38 GMT

Paris - Six suspected Islamists arrested by police in and around Paris on Tuesday were apparently planning to travel to Pakistan to train for jihad (holy war), French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said.

The arrests were made during house-to-house searches in Paris and two nearby towns of Stains and Garges-les-Gonesse.

Five of the six had been living in the Paris region, Gueant told reporters on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) ministerial meeting on the transatlantic drug trade.

The sixth was arrested on his arrival on a flight from Algeria, Gueant said.

Gueant confirmed the arrests were linked to the arrests of two French nationals in the Pakistani city of Lahore in January.

'It seems that these people - like the two arrested in January - had formulated a project to train for jihad in Pakistan,' he said.

'Nothing indicates these people were preparing to commit an attack in France,' he added.

Several of the suspects had dual nationalities, he said.

French authorities have up to four days to question the suspects, under anti-terrorist legislation.

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