French police detain six in new 'anti-terror' raid

PARIS: French police detained six people Sunday suspected of recruiting potential extremists, just days after another operation saw five charged on similar grounds, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

France is slowly recovering from the January 7-9 attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead but remains jittery after incidents such as Tuesday's knife attack on three soldiers outside a Jewish community centre on the French Riviera.

Cazeneuve said in a statement that anti-terrorism magistrates in Paris had ordered Sunday's raid following a probe opened in January last year into "conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and financing of terrorism."

A source close to the probe said five people were held in the southern city of Albi and another in the southwest of France.

All in their 30s, they are suspected of handling questionable money transfers and having recruited extremists.

"This new raid takes place five days after the detention for similar motives of eight people in the Paris and Lyon (southeast) regions, of whom five were charged on Saturday, and four remanded in custody," Cazeneuve said in his statement.