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French police have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of being part of an imminent Islamist terror plot in Paris.

The schoolboy, who has not been named, is accused of planning an attack in a public place in the French capital, one of the legal sources said.

The teenager is also alleged to have been in contact with an Islamist fighter in Syria, ITV reports.

His arrest comes after a car packed with gas cylinders has been found parked outside a synagogue in Marseilles.

According to local media reports, the suspicious vehicle was spotted at around 11am today outside the Bar Yohaye synagogue.

The building was holding a service for dozens of worshippers at the time.

Two gas canisters were reportedly found inside the vehicle.

Police evacuated the area and an investigation is now underway.

Laurent Nuñez, the police commissioner of the Bouches-du-Rhône region, said no detonation mechanism was found.

(Image: Reuters)

It comes just a week after a Peugeot laden with seven cylinders was left outside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in what French authorities say was an ISIS-inspired terror plot.

Three women have been arrested in connection with the Paris incident.

There were seven gas canisters inside the Peugeot, and well as three containers full of petrol, which might have been used to set the car on fire.

The Peugeot had no number plate, but forensics experts managed to find DNA belonging to the suspects.

The car's discovery triggered a terrorism investigation and revived fears about further attacks in a country where Islamist militants have killed more than 230 people since January 2015.

In May, Patrick Calvar, the head of France’s DGSI internal security agency, said he was confident ISIS would "reach the stage of car bombs".