VILLEJUIF, France : Two people were arrested after police found products that can be used to make explosives in a flat south of Paris on Wednesday, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.
Some of the products found in the flat in Villejuif could be used to make the unstable explosive TATP, one source close to the investigation said.
TATP has been used by militants in several attacks in western Europe in recent years, including Manchester in May, Brussels in 2016 and Paris in 2015.
Gas bottles were also found in the flat, other sources said.
The police raid followed a tip from a craftsman, Collomb said in a statement. One source said it was a locksmith who saw chemical products and tools when looking into the flat.
The two people arrested were driving a small van that belongs to the flat’s tenant, a police source said.
France’s counter-terrorism prosecutor is in charge of the investigation, a judicial source said.
(Reporting by Gonzalo Fuentes in Villejuif and Emmanuel Jarry in Paris)
Two arrested in French counter-terrorism raid near Paris
Two arrested in French counter-terrorism raid near Paris
Indonesia: Discussions with Board of Peace ‘on hold’ due to Iran war
- Indonesia’s participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s foreign minister said talks on US President Donald Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” of which the Southeast Asian nation is a key troop-contributing member, were on hold due to the Middle East war.
The US and Israeli air war against Iran has killed scores of civilians, thrown global air transport into chaos and sent oil prices surging after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“All BoP discussions are on hold as all attention has shifted to the situation in Iran,” Minister Sugiono, who goes by one name, said late on Tuesday in response to a question on calls for Indonesia to exit the peace board in the aftermath of the fresh conflict in the Middle East.
“We will also consult with our friends and colleagues in the Gulf because they are also under attack,” Sugiono told reporters after attending an event alongside President Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia’s participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation’s longstanding support for the Palestinian cause.
Indonesia backs a two-state solution.
The Indonesian Ulema Council, a leading clerical body, said on March 1 that Indonesia should leave the board, citing Trump’s attack on Iran as rendering the initiative ineffective.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, said Jakarta should use its position to press Israel and the United States to halt the violence.
Trump first proposed the board in September when he unveiled a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza, later expanding its remit to address other global conflicts typically handled by the United Nations.
Sugiono also said Prabowo is willing to be a mediator in the Iran war in a bid “to cool down and de-escalate the situation in the region.”
Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops for potential deployment in Gaza by early April as part of a proposed multinational peacekeeping force, its army said, as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force. It has also been given the deputy commander role of the force.
