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French President says determined to fight against terror threats

07 October 2012 02:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. French President Francois Hollande on Saturday reiterated his determination to guarantee the French security amid growing terrorism threats, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The state is determined to protect the French people against any terrorist threat," Hollande said in a statement released by the Presidency office, Elysee.

He also hailed police action and asked the interior minister to take all necessary measures of vigilance.

Seven men were into custody and another was shot dead in a nation anti-terror operation launched in early morning, the president confirmed.

The operation, which was under way in several cities around France, aimed at investigating into an attack of a kosher grocery with low-power explosive device which slightly injured one person last month in Sarcelles, north of Paris.

Three policemen were wounded during the raid while two other members of a suspected network of extremists were not found, Francois Molin, Paris prosecutor told reporters.

All French citizens, arrested men, were offenders who converted to radical Islam recently, Molins said, adding that DNA fingerprinting of the killed man showed that he was behind the 19 September attack.

According to Strasbourg prosecutor, Patrick Poirret, Jeremy Sydney, 33 who was shot dead in exchange of fire with police was "very determined with probable willingness to finish as martyr".

French government is hammering out a bill that will outlaw visits to terrorist training camps as part of the countryâ€™s crackdown on surging terrorism threats. The move came after Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old al Qaeda-inspired gunman killed seven people including three children in Toulouse and Montauban in the south France in March.