Francois Molins, Paris prosecutor talks to reporters during a press conference in Paris, France on Sept. 9, 2016. The three women arrested over a thwarted attack on Thursday were guided by Islamic State (IS) insurgents in Syria, Francois Molins said on Friday. (Xinhua/Thierry Mahe)
PARIS, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The three women arrested over a thwarted attack on Thursday were guided by Islamic State (IS) insurgents in Syria, Francois Molins, Paris prosecutor said on Friday.
"In the last few days and hours a terrorist cell was dismantled, composed of young women totally receptive to the deadly Daesh ideology," he told reporters.
"They were guided by individuals in Syria in the ranks of Islamic State ... that intends to use women as combatants," he added, noting that the IS has used even young women who develop their plot from distance.
"This commando's objective was clearly to carry out an attack," Molins said.
On Sunday, a Peugeot 607 containing seven gas cylinders, including an empty one on the front passenger seat, and three cans of diesel fuel was found near the famous tourist place Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Anti-terrorism units did not discover detonators in the car, which carried no registration plate, but they found documents written in Arabic language.
On Thursday evening, police arrested the three female suspects. One of them stabbed a police official before being shot and injured. They are aged 19, 23 and 39 years respectively.
Molins said the youngest of the three women, and also the daughter of the car owner, had written a letter pledging allegiance to the IS group.
She is also known to police for attempting to join insurgents in Syria.
The 23-year-old suspect was also on the intelligence services watch list for radicalization. Previously she has been engaged to Larossi Abballa, who killed two policemen in June and after to Adel Kermiche, one of the men who slaughtered the murder of a priest in July, according to Paris prosecutor.
Her fiance and a 15-year-old teenage,a daughter of one of the suspects were also arrested in connection of the foiled attack near the cathedral.
Earlier this week, four people -- two brothers and their girlfriends -- were already in custody over the discovery.
The first couple were arrested on a motorway in southern France and are known to the security services for links to radical Islamists. The man's brother and his girlfriend were arrested late Wednesday.
Speaking on the sidelines of Mediterranean states summit in Athens, French President Francois Hollande said "a terrorist attack has been thwarted. A group has been neutralised. Others are out there."
