DTN News - AL QAEDA NEWS: French Police Arrest 20 Suspected Islamists
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - March 30, 2012: French police arrested about 20 suspected Islamists in dawn raids on Friday, most of them in the hometown of an extremist who was shot dead by police last week after a killing spree.
Agents from France's DCRI domestic intelligence agency swooped in to carry out the arrests, most of them in the southern city of Toulouse a day after Al-Qaeda-inspired gunman Mohamed Merah was buried there, sources close to the investigation said.
The arrests were "not directly linked" to the Merah investigation, but were aimed at dismantling Islamist networks, one source said.
Some of the arrests also targetted people in the western city of Nantes.
The arrests came a day after Merah, who was shot dead by a police sniper on March 22 at the end of a 32-hour siege at his flat in Toulouse, was buried in the city under heavy police watch.
The 23-year-old had shot dead three soldiers, and three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in a killing spree that shocked the country.
