One of three women arrested over a foiled attack in Paris had been “promised as a bride” to two men behind attacks on police officers and a priest earlier this year, the Paris prosecutor said on Friday (September 9).

The revelations highlight the close links between members of religious militant circles in France, even though they might live in different parts of the country.

Sarah H, a 23-year-old Frenchwoman, was taken into custody on Thursday, along with the other two women, in connection with a car loaded with gas cylinders found near Notre Dame cathedral.

Police believed they were planning an imminent attack on the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris.

One of the women stabbed a police officer during her arrest before being shot and wounded, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The prosecutor further stated that individuals from so-called Islamic State in Syria had been directing the women.

The Peugeot 607 was found early on Sunday laden with seven gas cylinders and three jerry cans of diesel, said police, although no detonators were discovered.

“A group has been neutralised. Others are out there,” French President Francois Hollande said on the sidelines of a summit of southern European states in Athens on Friday.