FRANCE/FILE: A top French anti-terror investigator says that French intervention in Mali has raised the risk of attacks over the medium term, but that biggest threat comes from individuals rather than large groups

Record ID: 351967

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: A top French anti-terror investigator says that French intervention in Mali has raised the risk of attacks over the medium term, but that biggest threat comes from individuals rather than large groups
  • Date: 25th January 2013
  • Summary: TOULOUSE, FRANCE (FILE - MARCH 22, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE AND RESCUE VEHICLES PARKED NEAR APARTMENT OF MOHAMED MERAH, SOUND OF GUNFIRE
  • Embargoed: 9th February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA981QUZ7679SQZ5FU0RGAE5UJK
  • Story Text: A leading French anti-terror investigator on Friday (January 25) warned that France faces a threat from Islamic militants opposed to Paris' military intervention from Mali, but that any successful attack would likely be small and the work of individuals rather than large groups.
    In an interview with Reuters Television, anti-terror judge Marc Trevidic said the risk of self radicalised individuals carrying out strikes was a real one, and said that authorities had more targets for surveillance than they had resources to fight them with.
    The elevated threat would be over the medium term, rather than immediate, he said.
    Mali was not the only source of concern, he said, as approximately 50 people were currently engaged in the fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- and it was not clear how many of them might choose to bring their fight back home to France.

    "We know that there are something like 50 French citizens who are now in Syria, but we don't know exactly in which groups they fight," said Trevidic, who published a book on the face of terror earlier this month.

    "It's difficult to say that a young guy who came to Syria to fight Bashar al-Assad is a terrorist. It's not very logic in fact. He is going to be a terrorist in the future, that's possible, now it's not evident," he added.
    Security forces in France are on high alert following the launch of French bombing strikes against Islamist rebels in northern Mali two weeks ago.
    Authorities have stepped up the frequency of high-profile military patrols in public areas under the so-called Vigipirate plan.

    "They consider that the French troops are fighting Islam. So of course they are going to try to fight us. They are going to try to do bomb attacks," Trevidic said of the Islamist rebels, adding: "But not immediately. It's difficult for them to have an organisation to do that."
    One of the risks, he said, was from self-radicalised individuals, similar to Mohamed Merah who killed seven people in a murderous two-week spree in south-western France last year.

    "For the moment, the threat is only individual jihad," he said.
    Worryingly for the French authorities, Trevidic hinted that they knew who the targets were, but that resources to watch and contain them were in short supply.

    "Now, it's different because we're not dealing any more with big groups. We're dealing with little cells. Individuals or little groups. Everywhere in the country in France. So it's more difficult to be sure to put all our means to this target, or this one or this one. There are too many targets, in fact," he said.
    French security authorities have had some success in battling militants.
    Late last year, a surprised country awoke to news that they had just dismantled a suspected bomb factory in a dismal outskirts of Paris.
    The last large-scale bombing campaign in France was December 1996 when a home-made device was detonated on the capital's high-speed underground system, killing four and wounding 170.

    "The groups are less powerful. And if they can do bomb attacks or terrorist attacks, we can hope that these attacks are less efficient than in the past with big groups," Trevidic said.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register