Police commandos arrested 19 suspected Islamic militants in raids on Friday in several French cities including Toulouse, where seven people were killed by an al-Qaeda-inspired gunman this month.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose firm handling of the response to the shootings may have improved his odds in an election race he has lagged in, said more raids would follow to get rid of “people who have no business in the country”.
Interior minister Claude Guéant said those arrested had paramilitary-type training although he did not say if they were planning an actual attack. “These are people who . . . claimed they were acting for an extremely violent, jihadist and combat ideology,” he said, after meeting Muslim associations in Paris. – (Reuters)