PARIS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- A French court on late Monday sentenced five female militants who had planned a car bomb plot outside Notre Dame Cathedral here in 2016 to between five and 30 years in prison, local media reported.
The two main defendants, Ines Madani and Ornella Gilligmann, were sentenced to 30 years and 25 years respectively following their attempt to set off a car loaded with gas cylinders and cans of diesel outside the cathedral, according to state-run France Info radio.
Two other women, who had coordinated with Madani and Gilligmann, were given 20 years in jail. The fifth one named Samia Chalel was sent to prison for five years for allegedly helping hide Madani.
The five women, aged between 22 and 42, were guided by Rachid Kassim, a French Islamic State militant who had called on radicalized nationals to conduct terrorist assaults on French soil.
He was believed to have been killed in an air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul in February 2017.
