Burqa ban increases risk for attack (archive)
Photo: Reuters
Official: Terror attack averted at pro-IDF event in Paris
France's spy chief Bernard Squarcini says terror attack thwarted, warns that risk of terrorism higher than ever following burqa ban
Head of France's counterespionage agency Bernard Squarcini said in an interview with Saturday's Journal du Dimanche newspaper that a suicide bomber who planned to carry out an attack during an IDF fundraising event in a Paris theater was arrested in Egypt and extradited in France.
Squarcini did not give details about when the incident took place.
Squarcini said in the interview that the threat of terror attack on French soil has "never been higher" and that "objectively, there are reasons for worry."
He indicated that France's history as a colonial master in North Africa, its military presence in Afghanistan and a proposal that would ban full-covering face veils in public make the country a prime target for certain radical Islamist groups.
He asserted that the risk now is as high as in 1995 before of deadly attacks on the Paris Metro by Algerian Islamic extremists.
"We have never been at higher risk. We thwart at least two terror attacks a year, but sooner or later, they will succeed in harming us," he said.
Squarcini noted that the biggest threats are from al-Qaeda in north Africa and French citizens who have converted to Islam and trained in terrorist camps in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
AFP contributed to this report
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