France arrests 12 in anti-terror raids Published duration 5 October 2010

Police in France have arrested 12 people and seized guns and ammunition in anti-terrorism raids in the south of the country, officials say.

Nine arrests were made in Marseille and the nearby town of Avignon, with three others held in a separate case.

The raids come as security sources in some Western countries warn of a plot to attack public targets in Europe.

However, police have not said if there is a link between the latest arrests and the warnings.

A French official told AFP that police had seized weapons "including a Kalashnikov (rifle) and a pump-action shotgun, as well as ammunition" in Tuesday's raids.

In the separate operation, French police also arrested three men after finding their numbers in the mobile phone of a man arrested in Italy at the weekend, the agency said. The man arrested in Naples was allegedly carrying a bomb-making kit.

Two of those suspects were arrested in Marseille and the third in the south-western city of Bordeaux, reports added.

Officials said that the two sets of arrests were not linked.

Details of an alleged al-Qaeda plot against European targets first emerged in the US media and were later confirmed by European security sources.