PARIS (Reuters) – France’s interior minister said on Thursday that intelligence services had arrested a man for planning an attack inspired by plane attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in Sept. 2001.
France has for several years grappled with how to respond to both homegrown jihadists and foreign militants following a series of attacks across the country. French officials say the threat of attacks remains very high.
On Oct. 3, an IT specialist with suspected Islamist sympathies, who had a security clearance, killed three officers and one civilian employee before he was shot dead by another police officer.
“Just before (that attack) there was a 60th attempted attack since 2013,” Christophe Castaner told France 2 television.
“An individual, who was inspired by the events of Sept. 11 and the planes which destroyed the World Trade Center towers, was arrested by our intelligence services.”