Police in France have thwarted a possible terror attack in Paris this weekend by arresting a 15-year-old boy suspected of preparing an imminent “violent action.”
The arrest of the teenager Saturday came two days after police moved in on what the Paris prosecutor says was a group of female "commandos'' arrested after an aborted attack at Notre Dame Cathedral and another possible attack.
Intelligence agents suspected the boy planned to carry out a knife attack in a public place, but officials refused to name a spot where the attack might occur.
News of the arrest came shortly after Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Sunday that "every day attacks are foiled ... (including) as we speak.''
Valls said nearly 15,000 people in France are being tracked because they are suspected of being in the process of radicalization, while 1,350 are under investigation - 293 of them for alleged links to a terrorism network.
France is in a state of emergency after three attacks this year, including the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed 86 people. That followed two waves of attacks last year, notably the November 13 attacks on restaurants, bars, a concert hall and stadium that left 130 people dead.