France claims foiling major terror attack, 7 arrested

PARIS (AA) – An alleged plan to carry out a terrorist attack has been foiled over the weekend following the arrest of seven suspects in the French cities of Strasbourg and Marseille, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday.

The raids to nab the suspects were carried out between Saturday and Sunday after an eight-month long investigation by security services, Cazeneuve told a televised news conference.

He said the arrests prevented "a terrorist act that had been planned for a long time on our soil."

The suspects were of French, Moroccan and Afghan origins, and were aged between 29 and 37 years. Six of the suspects had not been known to intelligence agencies, he said.

Cazeneuve did not specify the target of the alleged terrorist attack.

The investigation, under the authority of the Paris public prosecutor, will work “to define the respective roles of arrested individuals and to establish whether the foiled attack was coordinated attack and aimed at striking several simultaneously sites on the territory, " he added.

The arrests came five days before the opening of the world's oldest and largest Christmas markets in Strasbourg. The famed market was the target of a failed extremist plot in 2000.

Cazeneuve said 418 people have been arrested since the beginning of 2016 as part of anti-terror operations following deadly Daesh attacks on France over the past two years.