France thwarts 2 attempted terror attacks since January

PARIS – France’s interior minister says two potential terror attacks have been thwarted in France since January.

Minister Gerald Collomb says Sunday on CNews television that one attack was targeting a major sports centre, and the other French soldiers. He said both plots were “not totally finalized.” He didn’t elaborate.

Collomb said several suspects in the cases have been arrested and jailed. They were known by authorities as radicalized, he said.

The French government on Friday unveiled a wide-ranging new program to counter radicalization, as French jihadis return from the battlefields of Syria and Iraq and the watch list grows of people showing risk signs.

The plan, made up of 60 measures, puts the accent on prevention, notably aimed at trying to catch danger signals within society.