Illustrative photo of a French police officer and a soldier on patrol, January 13, 2015. (AFP/Philippe Huguen)
Paris prosecutors say a counterterrorism judge is questioning a 16-year-old French girl who allegedly supports the Islamic State group and is suspected of trying to perpetrate an attack.
The Paris prosecutor’s office says the girl was using a social media app to spread calls by IS to commit violent acts.
Deputy prosecutor Laure Vermeersch said Monday that the judge may decide to file preliminary terrorism charges against the teenager who was arrested last week in a Paris suburb and has been held in custody since then.
The investigators said the girl was “extremely radicalized” and was the administrator of a chat group dedicated to IS propaganda on the Telegram app, which has been used by suspected jihadis to communicate.
Vermeersch said no specific targets had been mentioned by the teenager.
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France has been struck by a series of jihadist terror attacks over the past 18 months that have left the nation on edge.
A police officer watches people gathering around a floral tribute for the victims killed during a deadly attack in Nice, southern France, Sunday, July 17, 2016. (AP/Laurent Cipriani)
Last month, a truck massacre in Nice on Bastille Day that killed 85 revelers was followed less than a fortnight later by the grisly murder of a priest near the northern city of Rouen.
In France, where a state of emergency has been renewed several times since it was first imposed after the November 2015 attacks in Paris claimed 130 lives, authorities regularly announce searches and arrests in their counterterrorism drive.
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