REUTERS
Published: October 10, 2012 at 3:49 AM ET
PARIS (Reuters) - French anti-terrorist police have found bomb-making
materials and weapons while investigating suspected radical Islamists
across the country, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said on Wednesday.
Molins said a dozen suspects rounded up in raids over the weekend would
be held for a further 24 hours after the discovery of chemicals used to
make explosives at a garage in the Paris suburbs belonging to one of
them.
"We are clearly confronted with an extremely dangerous terror network,"
Molins said in a statement to the media. "It is essential to extend
their stay in custody."
Investigators searched garages in the town of Torcy, near Paris,
overnight after an anti-terrorist raid on Saturday ended with police
shooting dead an Islamist suspect linked to a grenade attack last month
on a Jewish supermarket and arresting 11 others.
Molins said a shotgun, a revolver, bags of potassium nitrate, sulfur and
a pressure cooker were discovered at a garage used by the suspect, at
whose home police on Saturday had found a list of Jewish groups in the
Paris area.
"These are all products used to make what we call improvised explosives," he said.
France's
Jewish community has been on edge after a series of attacks in recent
months. In the worst incident, three Jewish children and a rabbi were
among seven shot dead in the southern city of Toulouse in March by an
al-Qaeda-inspired gunman.
Last week, the government said the terrorist threat remained high as it
presented legislation allowing police to arrest those believed to have
been involved in terrorism-related activity outside French borders.
Molins said the detention of the dozen suspects could be extended again by a further six days if necessary.
(Reporting by Catherine Bremer; editing by Mark John)
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