France, planned a knife attack for Christmas: 2 arrests

An Islamist attack in France at Christmas was foiled. According to Le Figaro, who cites a judicial source, two radicalized suspects were arrested on suspicion of planning a knife attack to be carried out during the upcoming Christmas holidays. The two 23-year-olds were under surveillance by the secret services, which had intercepted some of their exchanges on the Internet during which they talked about their plan in the name of Islam, revealed Le Parisien, according to which the suspects in recent weeks had also met in person. Their target would be a mall or a busy shopping street to hit as many people as possible. The two were arrested in Meaux (department of Seine-et-Marne) and Pecq (Yvelines) by DGSI agents on 29 November and charged with “association with a criminal terrorist organization” on 3 December. In the searches of their homes, knives, computers and mobile phones were seized, in which ‘important’ jihadist propaganda was found. During the interrogations, one of the two young people confessed that he wanted to kill “infidels” and that he wanted to die as a martyr, claiming his belonging to ISIS. The other arrested, on the other hand, denied any accusation.