Suspected jihadi recruiters arrested in south-west France, Nice attacker charged
Six suspected jihadists were detained in south-west France early Sunday morning. They are believed to have collected funds and recruited candidates to fight in Syria. The man who attacked three soldiers outside a Jewish cultural centre on Tuesday has been charged with attempted terror-related murder.
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Five people believed to be involved in a jihadi network were arrest in or near the town of Albi, the sixth near Toulouse, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced in a statement Sunday.
They are all in their 30s and are believed to transferred money for dubious purposes and recruited would-be fighters to join jihadi groups in Syria.
The investigation started in January 2014 and was placed in the hands of magistrates in August, a source told the AFP news agency.
Several of the more than 100 investigations into suspected jihadi networks currently taking place are in and around Toulouse, the region where Mohammed Merah killed seven people, including three children outside a Jewish school, in 2012.
Five people were charged on Saturday in a separate case, following an anti-terror raids in the Paris and Lyon regions this week, Cazeneuve said.
The man who was arrested for a knife attack on three soldiers in Nice on Tuesday, Moussa Coulibaly, was charged with attempted murder in connection with a terrorist operation on Saturday, judicial sources said.
During questioning earlier this week, Coulibaly told investigators of his hatred of France, Jews, the police and the military, a source close to the investigation said Wednesday.
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