Suspects in ‘thwarted terror attack on Disneyland Paris and Champs Elysees Christmas market were given secret orders by ISIS in Syria and Iraq’
Terror suspects had made internet searches on several targets in French capital
AN ISIS terror cell planning a terror attack on Disneyland and a Christmas market on the Champs Elysees in Paris were given secret orders from ISIS commanders, a prosecutor has said.
Francois Molins told a news conference: "A Strasbourg commando team, and also a man arrested in Marseille, were given instructions to acquire arms.
"The instructions were given by a commander from the Iraqi-Syrian region via encrypted apps."
Jihadists were plotting to strike on Thursday, December 1 and had also researched other bustling sites including a police headquarters, Metro station and city centre cafes.
Seven suspects were arrested in police raids last weekend in the eastern city of Strasbourg and Marseille in the south following an eight-month investigation by security services, although two were later released.
The source said investigators found the suspects had made internet searches on sites including the Champs Elysees market, Disneyland Paris, cafe terraces in the northeast of the capital, the Paris criminal police headquarters and metro stations.
Christmas is one of the theme park's busiest times of the year and December it would have been packed with thousands of kids.
Five of the suspects have had their custody extended under legislation covering investigations into an imminent terror attack.
One of the men is said to have told investigators that attacks were planned and named the police headquarters in central Paris and the DGSI domestic security department in the northwest of the city as targets.
Two handguns, an automatic pistol, a submachine gun and jihadist propaganda were all found during the raids in which they were arrested.
France is under a state of emergency that gives security forces enhanced powers of surveillance and arrest, a year after the Paris attacks.
Islamist extremists have carried out three large-scale attacks in France since January 2015, when gunmen targeted the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket.
Ten months later, Islamic State jihadists massacred 130 people in attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, France's national stadium and a handful of bars and restaurants in eastern Paris.
And in July, a self-radicalised extremist ploughed a truck into crowds watching fireworks in the southern city of Nice, killing 86.