French cops raid radical cleric who housed suspect linked to attacks

Seventy French police backed by two security helicopters have raided the home of a radical Muslim preacher in the Pyrenees.

The raid in the town of Artigat targets Olivier Corel, according to an official with the gendarme service. It is part of stepped-up security measures under a state of emergency declared in the wake of November 13 attacks that killed at least 130 people in addition to seven Islamic extremist attackers.

Authorities believe Corel lodged Fabien Clain, reported to have been the voice on an Islamic State French-language claim of responsibility for the Paris attacks. Clain was convicted in 2009 for involvement in a network sending extremist fighters to Iraq.

Corel is also believed to have figured in the religious life of Frenchman Mohammed Merah, who killed a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school and three paratroopers in southern France in 2012.

— AP