Tag Archives: France

French authorities released three people, including a soldier, who were arrested earlier this week for suspected links to Toulouse shooter Mohamed Merah. So far only his brother Abdelkader has been charged as an accomplice.

Police arrested three people in southern France suspected of ties to al Qaeda-linked gunman Mohamed Merah. One of the suspects is a soldier in the French army, and another comes from Merah’s old neighborhood in Toulouse. Authorities are concerned that accomplices of Merah remain at large and present a security threat. Police arrested a suspected […]

President Hollande confirmed that Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, a senior leader of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, was killed “during combat led by the French military in the Ifoghas Mountains in northern Mali at the end of February.” France appointed a new ambassador to Mali to replace Christian Rouyer, a strong advocate for the French […]

A top French counterterrorism judge warned that some 50 to 80 French citizens are believed to have traveled to Syria for jihad, a number much higher than previously acknowledged. The jihadists’ travel is not impeded by French authorities, he said, as the French government supports the Syrian rebel side, and they can enter Turkey without […]

France said it plans to introduce a UN resolution this month for an April vote on the establishment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali to replace the French-led mission. At least three Frenchmen have gone to Mali for jihad.

Authorities said three French Islamists arrested last week near Marseilles were planning a terrorist attack on or about the one-year anniversary of the murders by al Qaeda-inspired shooter Mohamed Merah this month. Intercepted communications, as well as weapons and explosives found at the home of one of the suspects, including “a veritable laboratory for making […]

Defense Minister LeDrian said two Frenchmen have been detained while fighting with jihadists in Mali and are being deported to France. About 12 French citizens are thought to have gone to Mali for jihad. Vistorin Lurel, Minister of Overseas France, said the world needs more dictators like Hugo Chavez.

Security officials arrested two young men, both French citizens, at a house near Marseille on suspicion of plotting attacks, making explosives, and engaging in online terrorist activity. The pair had been under surveillance since they sent a threatening letter to US President Obama in November 2012.

Bouchra Bagour, 35, was charged with a hate crime for sending her 3-year-old son Jihad to nursery school in Avignon last September wearing a T-shirt that said “I am a bomb” on the front and “Jihad, born on 11 September” on the back. The boy’s uncle, who had given him the T-shirt, is a co-defendant.