French police foil 'imminent' church terror attack

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

French authorities on Wednesday said they foiled an "imminent" terrorist attack on churchgoers after a man was arrested in Paris with an arsenal of weapons.

The 24-year-old Algerian computer science student was only detained on Sunday because he shot himself in the leg, prosecutors said.

The man called for an ambulance, and was found bleeding on a pavement in the 13th arrondissement of the city, the Guardian reported. Police followed a trail of blood to his car, where they found the weapons. Several more weapons were found at the suspect's home.

"Documents were also found and they prove, without any ambiguity, that the individual was preparing an imminent attack, in all probability, against one or two churches," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

The man, who was not identified by police, was said to be an Islamic extremist known to security forces for having expressed a desire to travel to Syria.

The suspect was also arrested in connection with the death of Aurelie Chatelain, a 32-year-old Frenchwoman, who was found shot to death in her car Sunday morning. She had been in Paris for a work training session.

Also found in the suspect's apartment in southeastern Paris was evidence of ties to Islamic extremism, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.

There was no immediate evidence that the suspect had direct ties to any organized groups, said a French security official who was not authorized to publicly release details.

In early January, 17 people were killed in Paris by gunmen who targeted the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.