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PARIS, April 4 (Reuters) – Elite French police arrested 10
suspected Islamists in early morning raids on Wednesday in
several cities, including Marseille, a police source said.
The DCRI domestic intelligence service, supported by elite
RAID and GIPN commandos, also carried out arrests in the
southern cities of Pau and Valence, and the northeastern town of
Roubaix, the source said.
The raids follow the arrest of 19 people on March 30 a week
after police snipers shot dead al Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed
Merah, who killed three Jewish school children, a rabbi and
three soldiers in a spate of attacks around Toulouse.
“Those arrested have a similar profile to Mohamed Merah,” a
local police source said. “They are isolated individuals, who
are self-radicalised”, the source said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is waging an uphill battle
for re-election in an April-May vote, has vowed to root out any
form of militancy following Merah’s killing spree.
Thirteen of the 19 people linked to a radical French
Islamist group arrested last week are being put under
investigation on suspicion of terrorism, the Paris public
prosecutor said on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Nicolas Bertin and John Irish; writing by John
Irish; Editing by Jon Boyle)
