Five men have been arrested in Rennes in France in connection with a suspected Islamist attack plot, authorities say.
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The arrests came as the interior minister warned, on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US, that the threat in France remained high.
Michele Alliot Marie also warned that Islamic radicals were using French prisons as recruitment bases.
"I have just suggested to my European colleagues that we create a manual on Islamism in prisons, to better inform security professionals on how to detect and prevent this kind of recruitment," she said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro.
She said 89 suspected Islamist activists were arrested in France last year and 55 others had been held on French soil so far this year - before the five announced on Thursday.
The arrests in Rennes, in western France, were made "to verify intelligence about the possible creation of a small Islamist group that might have terrorist aims", a source close to the investigation told AFP.
(BBC)
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