French teen held over suspected Islamic State terror plot
Prosecutors say 'extremely radicalized' 16-year-old girl from Paris spread calls by IS to carry out attacks
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.
France has been struck by a series of jihadist terror attacks over the past 18 months that have left the nation on edge.
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.