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Paris terror plot suspect was engaged to priest killer

One of the women arrested over a foiled terror attack in Paris had been engaged to a man who slit...
Newstalk
Newstalk

20.43 9 Sep 2016


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Paris terror plot suspect was...

Paris terror plot suspect was engaged to priest killer

Newstalk
Newstalk

20.43 9 Sep 2016


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One of the women arrested over a foiled terror attack in Paris had been engaged to a man who slit a priest's throat, it has emerged.

Adel Kermiche, 19, murdered Father Jacques Hamel, who was in his 80s, during a morning mass in July.

Kermiche and his accomplice Abdelmalik Petitjean, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, were then shot by police as they left the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy, despite using nuns as human shields.

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On Friday, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the detained woman, named as Sarah H, was also betrothed to another extremist who carried out a deadly attack in June.

Larossi Abballa killed two police officials in Magnanville and filmed the aftermath on Facebook Live before being shot by officers.

Sarah H's current fiance was arrested on Thursday, Mr Molins said. She and two other females - one a teenager - were detained after a car full of gas cylinders was discovered close to Notre Dame Cathedral in the French capital on Sunday morning.

The Peugeot 607 also contained three canisters of diesel and was found with its hazard lights on. The three women are accused of planning to attack a railway station in Paris this week.

Mr Molins said the suspects were guided by IS commanders in Syria. "The terrorist organisation uses not only women, but young women, who get to know them and develop their plot from a distance," he told a news conference.

An interior ministry statement said: "An alert has been issued to all stations but they had planned to attack the Gare de Lyon on Thursday."

The youngest of the women, Ines Madani, 19, is said to have written a letter pledging allegiance to IS. Shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' - Arabic for God is Greatest - can be heard on video footage of the women's arrests.

Madani apparently stabbed a police officer in the leg before being shot and wounded. She is being treated in hospital.

TV footage showed a policeman leaving the scene of the arrests on the outskirts of Paris carrying a large knife. The wounded officer's injuries are not life-threatening. 

 


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