French police have arrested a man found in possession of hand guns and a Kalashnikov assault rifle who is suspected of planning terror attacks on churches in France, reports FRANCE 24.
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Wednesday that the 24-year-old suspect, an IT student who is also an Algerian national, was arrested on Sunday.
He is also suspected of killing Aurélie Châtelain, a 32-year-old fitness instructor, on Sunday in the Villejuif suburb of Paris, Cazeneuve said.
A car believed to belong to the man was seized by police. And in an eerie reminder of January’s Charlie Hebdo attacks, in which 17 people were killed, they found an "arsenal of weapons" including a number of handguns, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and bullet proof vests in the car's boot.
“Documents were also found that establish without any ambiguity that this individual was planning an attack on one or two churches,” Cazeneuve said.