French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that France remains a top target for Islamist terrorists. “The threat is at its maximum, as we have seen in recent days, in recent times and even as we speak,” the head of government said several days after the discovery of a car loaded with gas cylinders in the centre of Paris and the arrest of several suspects.
He added that the security forces dismantle terror cells every week. “This week, at least two attacks were foiled,” he revealed. Valls said that the number of radicalised individuals in France known to the authorities has been revised upwards to 15,000 from 10,000.
“We have nearly 700 French jihadists and residents in France who are currently fighting in Iraq and Syria,” he said, adding that this figure included “275 women and dozens of children”. In Iraq and Syria, 196 French jihadists and residents have been killed to date, according to the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy told the Journal de Dimanche newspaper that the government is not doing enough to counter the terror threat.