France: Man's Blunder Thwarted Church Attack

Cops found plans after suspect accidentally shot himself
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 22, 2015 4:00 AM CDT
France: Extremist's Blunder Thwarted Church Attack
A heavily armed police officer guards the General Directorate for Internal Security headquarters outside Paris.   (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

A terrorist attack on one or more churches in Paris may only have been thwarted because the suspect couldn't handle a gun, according to French authorities. The country's interior minister says a 24-year-old Algerian national was arrested on Sunday after he apparently shot himself and called for an ambulance, the BBC reports. Police say they followed a blood trail to a car containing attack plans and loaded guns, the AP reports.

A search of the suspect's apartment found more weapons and evidence of links to Islamic extremism. The minister says the documents that police found leave no doubt that an attack was imminent, according to Reuters. The man is also a suspect in the murder of a 32-year-old woman who was found dead in her car on Sunday, the BBC reports. (More Paris stories.)

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