Terror attacks being foiled ‘every single day’ in France, prime minister says

A radicalized French teenager had been planning to carry out a knife attack at a popular weekend spot for families and tourists, investigators said.

The 15-year-old, already on a high-security threat list, was arrested on Saturday, one week after French police prevented an attack in central Paris by a group of female Islamic State followers who tried to blow up a car filled with gas bottles.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned on Sunday that the terrorist threat was at its “maximum” level and said France’s security forces were “foiling attacks every single day.”

The unnamed youth was arrested at his home near the Coulée Verte, a “green corridor” walkway in Paris similar to New York’s High Line, where detectives allege he was planning to stab random passers-by last weekend.

Detectives told French media the youth admitted he wanted to be killed by the police and “die a martyr.” However, one officer told L’Express magazine that his evidence was “confused” and he was later said to have withdrawn his statements.

The teenager had already been under house arrest at his family home in the 12th arrondissement of the French capital for the last five months, as part of the state of emergency introduced in France following the November 2015 attacks. He was detained in April 2016 and questioned about alleged plans to travel to join Islamic State in Syria.

Read More: LA Times

Featured Image – France’s Security Increase – Wikimedia Commons