Two Frenchmen arrested in Marseille on Tuesday planned an “imminent and violent attack” ahead of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, France's interior minister said. France's internal intelligence agency, which had been looking for the two suspects for more than a week, had warned main candidates in the election that there was a threat to their security, campaign officials said.

Comments by officials indicated that former prime minister Francois Fillon, centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen - three leading contenders - were among those warned of a security risk.

These two radicalized men ... intended to commit in the very short-term - by that I mean in the coming days - an attack on French soil, Interior Minister Matthias Fekl told a news conference. A definite terrorist act had been foiled, he said.

France goes to the polls on April 23 and on May 7 in one of the most unpredictable elections in its modern history with security a key issue after attacks by militant Islamists which have killed more than 230 people in the past two years.

The two men - 23-year-old Clement Baur and 30-year-old Mahiedine Merabet - were seized in the southern port city a few moments apart from each other on Tuesday morning.

Local mayor Lisette Narducci said explosives had been found after a search of an apartment near Marseille's largest train station. Sources close to the investigation said at least two assault weapons had been found.

The main candidates were warned in the middle of the last week that there was a risk and that two individuals had been identified. We received their photos and security of the candidates. Their meetings and headquarters were given extra protection, Macron's spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told Reuters.

Officials from Fillon's camp and Le Pen's National Front said they also had received word of a possible attack.

With the country still under a state of emergency, Fekl said 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers would be deployed for each leg of the election, and security reinforced for the candidates.

Everything has been put in place to ensure the security of this big event for our democracy and our Republic. The security forces are mobilized everywhere across France to ensure the security of French people and to ensure the presidential campaign goes smoothly, he said. </s> With the motives of the Champs-Elysées gunman considered terror-related, the timing just three days before the first round of the French presidential elections and during a prime time TV "debate" between all 11 official candidates clearly suggests that extremists are seeking to influence the tone of the debate - and perhaps its outcome.

If that was the aim, it was a success, as two candidates - Marine Le Pen, the far-Right Front National leader, and conservative François Fillon - cancelled visits on Friday - the final day of the campaign.

As they learned of the attack while on air, all the runners adapted their conclusions to pledge to protect the French. "Enough of laxism, enough of naivety," said Ms Le Pen in hers. "The fight against terrorism must be the absolute priority of the next French president," said Mr Fillon, who proposed arresting all suspects on an "S" watch list, like the gunman. </s> London: Two of Britain’s main parties, including the ruling Conservative party, day decided to suspend its campaign for the general election after the terrorist attack in London, which killed six persons and injured 48 others.

The ruling Conservative party announced that it was suspending its campaign following the attack just days before the polls on 8 June involving a van and three terror suspects, who were shot dead by Metropolitan Police armed officers.

“The Conservative party will not be campaigning nationally today. We will review as the day goes on and as more details of the attack emerge,” a Tory party spokesperson said.

The Opposition Labour party has also indicated that all planned campaign events for today would be called off. The Scottish National Party (SNP) has also called off its campaign for Sunday. However, the suspension will not include local campaigning, and local candidates will have the freedom to use their judgement.

Also Read: Incident in London is ‘potential act of terrorism’: Theresa May

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he is “passionate believer in democracy” and would not want to see the election date being affected by the latest incident. “There can be no justification for the acts of these terrorists and I’m quite clear we’ll never let them win nor we will allow them to cower our city or Londoners,” he said.

A white van hit pedestrians on London Bridge on Saturday night before three men got out and stabbed people in nearby Borough Market, a very busy area of central London. Scotland Yard said the three men were wearing what looked like suicide bomb vests, which later turned out to be fake.

Also Read: London terror attack: Outrage and solidarity over ‘cowardly’ attacks

All three suspects were shot dead by armed officers on the scene within eight minutes. “We are treating this as a terrorist incident and a full investigation is already under way,” said Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley.

The latest attack is the third terrorist strike in the UK this year, with campaigning also suspended for three days last month after suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 victims at a concert in Manchester on 22 May. Earlier this year, on 22 March, terror suspect Khalid Masood mowed down four pedestrians to death before stabbing to death a police officer on duty at the UK Parliament. PTI </s> PARIS: A known terror suspect shot dead a French policeman and wounded two others Thursday on Paris’s Champs Elysees in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group days before a presidential election.

Observers had long feared bloodshed ahead of Sunday’s vote in France following a string of atrocities since 2015 and the violence is likely to thrust security to the front of voters’ minds.

The shooter opened fire with an automatic weapon on a police van on the world-famous boulevard at around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), prompting tourists and visitors to run for their lives.

After killing the officer and injuring his colleagues just a few hundred metres from the Arc de Triomphe, the gunman was shot dead in return fire while trying to flee on foot, police sources told AFP.

A statement from the Islamic State group published by its propaganda agency Amaq said the attacker was “one of the Islamic State’s fighters.”

The killer, identified as a 39-year-old French man, was known to anti-terror police, sources told AFP, and raids took place at his address in a suburb to the east of Paris.

He was condemned to 15 years in prison in February 2005 on three counts of attempted murder, including against police officers.

The impact on the outcome of the French election is unclear — Sunday is the poll’s first round — but far-right leader Marine Le Pen, her centrist rival Emmanuel Macron, and scandal-hit conservative Francois Fillon cancelled campaign events planned for Friday.

Up until now, surveys showed voters more concerned about unemployment and their spending power than terrorism or security, though analysts warned this would change in the event of violence.

The shooting comes two days after the arrest of two men in southern Marseille with weapons and explosives who were suspected of preparing an attack to disrupt the campaign.

French President Francois Hollande promised “absolute vigilance, particularly with regard to the electoral process” and paid tribute to the police.

Anti-immigration contender Le Pen earlier welcomed security moving to the heart of the campaign as she took part in a prime-time interview show alongside 10 other presidential candidates.

“We are suffering the consequences of a laxity that has continued for years,” she said shortly before the shooting, promising to take a hard line against extremists and anyone suspected of being an Islamist.

For weeks, former banker Macron and Le Pen have been out in front but opinion polls now show there is a chance that any of four leading candidates could reach the election’s second-round runoff on May 7.

Conservative candidate Fillon and far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon have closed the gap substantially in the last two weeks.

“The first responsibility of the president is to protect,” Macron said on the interview show. “This threat will be part of our daily lives in the next years.”

Fillon, who penned a pre-election book called “Beating Islamic Totalitarianism”, declared that “the fight against terrorism must be the absolute priority of the next president.”

As the first details of the attack filtered through, US President Donald Trump said that “it looks like another terrorist attack. What can you say? It just never ends.”

The bustling Champs Elysees lies in the heart of Paris and is lined with shops and restaurants. It was immediately blocked by armed officers after the attack and nearby metro stations were closed.

“We had to hide our customers in the basement,” Choukri Chouanine, manager of a restaurant near the site of the shooting, told AFP, saying there was “lots of gunfire.”

A spokesman for the interior ministry paid tribute to the fast reflexes of police at the scene who managed to kill the gunman and prevent further bloodshed on a busy spring-time evening.

A foreign tourist was slightly wounded in her knee by shrapnel during the shooting.

France is in a state of emergency and at its highest possible level of terror alert.

The Charlie Hebdo magazine was hit in January 2015, sites around Paris including the Bataclan concert hall were targeted in November the same year, and families at a fireworks display in Nice in July 2016.

In between, there have been a series of smaller attacks, often aimed at security forces.

Thousands of troops and armed police have been deployed to guard tourist hotspots such as the Champs Elysees or other potential targets, including government buildings and religious sites.

In February, a man armed with a machete in each hand attacked soldiers on patrol at Paris’s Louvre Museum. The attacker, a 29-year-old Egyptian, was seriously injured.

And in March, a 39-year-old man was killed at Paris’s Orly airport after attacking a soldier. AFP </s> PARIS — French officials say they have foiled an "imminent and violent attack" on the eve of pivotal presidential elections, arresting two men in the southern port city of Marseilles on Tuesday morning.

Security officers searching the homes in connection with the arrests found "a massive quantity of explosives ... and containers of products such as acetone to prepare the explosive," according to Michele Azulé, a spokeswoman for the Marseilles mayor's office.

"Many weapons were also seized," she added.

France goes to the polls to choose a new president on April 23 and on May 7 in a two-stage election.

France's Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said the pair, who police said were seized in the southern port city a few moments apart from each other, were radicalized French nationals aged 24 and 30.

"These two radicalized men ... intended to commit in the very short-term — by that I mean in the coming days — an attack on French soil," Fekl said at a news conference.

National security is a burning issue for many in France after attacks by militant Islamists across the country have killed more than 230 people over the past two years.

With the country still under a state of emergency, Fekl said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers would be deployed for each leg of the election.

"Everything has been put in place to ensure the security of this big event for our democracy and our republic," he said. "The security forces are mobilized everywhere across France to ensure the security of French people and to ensure the presidential campaign goes smoothly." </s> Paris: A police officer was gunned down in the heart of this capital on Thursday, just three days before French voters will cast ballots in the first round of the presidential election.



Police officers control passersby near the Champs Elysees in Paris after a shooting. Photos/AFP

Islamic State rushed to claim responsibility for the attack, which left the policeman and the assailant dead and three others wounded, including a civilian. Police have confirmed the identity of the gunman, but are withholding his name to allow time to determine whether he had any accomplices, Paris chief prosecutor François Molins said at the crime scene.

Investigators have already searched the shooter's residence in suburban Paris, Efe news agency reported. IS said the assault was the work of one of its "soldiers," a Belgian national identified only by the pseudonym Abu Yusuf al-Baljiki. French President François Hollande said he was convinced the shooting was an act of a "terrorist character."

"We have a great determination to battle terrorism here and everywhere our forces are engaged," the head of state said in a televised address. "With regard to the security forces, the nation's support is total," Hollande said, adding that the government will organize a tribute to the slain policeman.

Authorities will remain on the highest alert, especially for possible threats to the election, he said. Hollande said he convened a meeting of France's defense council for Friday morning. The incident on the Champs-Elysees, Paris' iconic main avenue, occurred shortly before 9 pm, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said.

A car pulled up next to a police vehicle and a man emerged and opened fire with an automatic weapon, the spokesman said. "On the face of it, the officers were deliberately targeted," Brandet said. Evidence and witness statements indicate that the attack was carried out by one man, Brandet said.

Paris police ordered the immediate evacuation of the Champs-Elysees and suspension of service at nearby metro stations. France has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when more than 130 people were killed in a single night by coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

Several of the candidates vying in Sunday's presidential ballot issued statements of sympathy for the victims and their families, and some referred to the shooting an act of terrorism. Two presidential hopefuls canceled rallies scheduled for Friday.

US President Donald Trump, in comments prior to Hollande's televised address, said that the violence in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack." "It never ends," he said during a joint press conference in Washington with the visiting Italian prime minister, offering condolences to the French people. </s> (PARIS) — Extremism concerns shook France's presidential campaign Tuesday as authorities announced arrests in what they said was a thwarted attack and candidates urged tougher counterterrorism efforts for a country already under a state of emergency.

While national security previously has been a strong theme in the campaign, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen hardened her tone on foreign extremists and border controls in the wake of the arrests that came days before the first round of voting.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron called for national unity and stronger intelligence. Le Pen and Macron are among four leading candidates seen as most likely to progress from Sunday's first round and to reach the May 7 runoff between the top two.

As the government prepared to flood streets with more than 50,000 police and soldiers to safeguard the ballot, Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said police thwarted an imminent "terror attack," arresting two French men in the southern port city of Marseille.

Both are suspected Islamic radicals, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. Police seized guns and explosives from the apartment the men were leaving when they were arrested, Molins said. The explosives found are of a type used in previous attacks in France and Belgium that were inspired by the Islamic State group.

It was unclear whether a campaign event was a potential target for the attack; Molins said investigators have not determined "the day, the targets and the exact circumstances" of the suspects' plans.

Macron's campaign team said authorities earlier provided a photo of the suspects to his security detail.

The presidential election is being watched as a bellwether for global populist sentiment, in large part because of Le Pen's nationalist, anti-immigration positions.

In a written statement Tuesday, Le Pen pointed to "a devastating multiplication of attacks and threats of attacks" in France which she said was the result of "Islamic fundamentalism" that "has expanded exponentially" in the last decade in the country.

"It's time to put back France in order," she said, using one of her campaign's mantras.

Before Tuesday's arrests were announced, Le Pen said on RTL radio that she would expel foreign extremists and draft army reservists to close France's borders as soon as she takes office.

"We cannot fight the terrorism that weighs on our country without controlling our borders," she said.

He called the arrests a reminder that "the terrorist threat remains very high," especially during the election campaign, and reiterated calls for pressure on internet companies to better monitor extremism online.

But he added that "terrorism ... is a challenge that calls upon us more than anything else to come together, because the terrorists wish nothing more than our division."

Macron and conservative candidate Francois Fillon have pledged more robust counterterrorism efforts, but remain committed to Europe's open borders.

"Democracy must not get on its knees in front of the threats and intimidations from terrorists," Fillon said in a written statement. "The campaign must continue until the end."

Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon suggested his three main rivals — Fillon, Le Pen and Macron — could have been potential targets of the two suspects in Marseille. He expressed solidarity with his fellow presidential hopefuls.

"We will never make the gift to criminals to divide in front of them. We are not afraid," Melenchon said during a rally in Dijon.

Melenchon, who leads a far-left alliance that includes the Communist Party, has risen in polls in recent weeks and is now considered as having a chance of reaching the runoff election.

France's fight against homegrown and overseas Islamic extremism has, with jobs and the economy, been one of the main issues for the stumping presidential candidates.

Those on the right have been particularly vocal, seeking to appeal to voters traumatized by IS-inspired attacks that have killed at least 235 people in France since January 2015, by far the largest casualty rate of any Western country.

With the terror threat "higher than ever," Fekl said "everything is being done" to secure the election, the candidates, their election headquarters and rallies.

He said more than 50,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers will be deployed in France and its overseas territories on Sunday and during the decisive May 7 second round. </s> PARIS — The Champs-Elysees gunman who shot and killed a police officer just days before France's presidential election was detained in February for threatening police but then freed, two officials told The Associated Press on Friday. He was also convicted in 2003 of attempted homicide in the shootings of two police officers.

The French government pulled out all the stops to protect Sunday's vote as the attack deepened France's political divide.

"Nothing must hamper this democratic moment, essential for our country," Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after a high-level meeting Friday that reviewed the government's already heightened security plans for the two-round vote that begins Sunday.

"Barbarity and cowardice struck Paris last night," the prime minister said, appealing for national unity and for people "not to succumb to fear."

Investigators believe at this stage that the gunman, 39-year-old Frenchman Karim Cheurfi, was alone in killing a police officer and wounding two others and a German tourist on Thursday night, less than 72 hours before the polls open, a French official who discussed details of the investigation with the AP said on condition of anonymity.

The official and another, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Cheurfi was detained toward the end of February after speaking threateningly about police but was then released for lack of evidence.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack unusually quickly in a statement that sowed confusion by apparently misidentifying the gunman.

Police shot and killed Cheurfi after he opened fire on a police van on Paris' most famous boulevard. Investigators found a pump-action shotgun and knives in his car. Cheurfi's identity was confirmed from his fingerprints.

One of the key questions was how the attack might impact French voters.

The risk for the main presidential candidates is misjudging the public mood by making an ill-perceived gesture or comment. With polling so close, and campaigning banned starting Friday at midnight, they would have no time to recover before voters cast ballots.

The two top finishers Sunday advance to a winner-takes-all presidential runoff on May 7. Two of the main candidates, conservative Francois Fillon and centrist Emmanuel Macron, cancelled planned campaign stops Friday.

The attack brought back the recurrent campaign theme of France's fight against Islamic extremism, one of the mainstays of the anti-immigration platform of far-right leader Marine Le Pen and also, to a lesser extent, of Fillon, a former prime minister. In the wake of the assault, they redoubled appeals for a firmer hand against Islamic extremism and promised get-tough measures if elected.

Le Pen, speaking at her campaign headquarters, urged the outgoing Socialist government to immediately re-establish border controls. Cazeneuve, the Socialist prime minister, accused the National Front leader of seeking to make political hay from the assault.

After Le Pen spoke scathingly Friday of the government's fight against extremism, Cazeneuve said Le Pen's party in 2014 voted against an anti-terrorism law and, in 2015, against a law that beefed up resources for French intelligence services.

He said: "She seems to be deliberately forgetting everything that has been done over five years to make people forget that she opposed everything, without ever proposing anything serious or credible."

Fillon separately pledged to maintain the state of emergency that has been in place since IS-claimed gun and bomb attacks killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015.

"The fight for the French people's freedom and security will be mine. This must be the priority," he said.

As Paris got back to business, municipal workers in white hygiene suits were out before dawn to wash down the sidewalk where the assault took place — a scene now depressingly familiar after multiple attacks that have killed more than 230 people in France over two years. Delivery trucks did their early morning rounds. Everything would have seemed normal if not for a row of TV trucks parked along the boulevard that is a must-visit for tourists.

Asked if the assault would impact voting, the centrist Macron said: "No one knows."

With some voters doubtful whether the 39-year-old former banker is experienced enough to be head of state, Macron appealed for cool heads.

"What our attackers want is death, symbolism, to sow panic (and) to disturb a democratic process, which is the presidential election," he said.

Macron said he canceled campaign stops out of a sense of "decency" and to allow police to concentrate their resources on the attack investigation.

Said by polls to be running neck-and-neck with Le Pen, he tore into her claims that previous attacks wouldn't have happened under her watch.

"She won't be able to protect our citizens," Macron said of Le Pen.

The two police officers injured in the attack are out of danger, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. National police spokesman Jerome Bonet, also speaking on BFM television, said there were thousands of people on Paris' iconic boulevard when the gunman opened fire and that the rapid response of officers who shot and killed him avoided possible "carnage."

Voters also wondered how the latest attack might impact the election.

Elena Worms, walking her dog near the Champs-Elysees, called the attack "destabilizing" and said she fears it will "push people to the extremes." She said her plans to vote Fillon remained unchanged.

"He wants to lead Muslims away from fundamentalism to security," she said.

In a statement from its Amaq news agency, IS group gave a pseudonym for the shooter, Abu Yusuf al-Beljiki, indicating he was Belgian or had lived in Belgium. But Belgium's interior minister said the pseudonym did not belong to the attacker.

Investigators searched a home early Friday in an eastern suburb of Paris believed linked to the attack and police detained for questioning three of the gunman's family members — routine in such cases.

The attack appeared to fit a spreading pattern of European extremists targeting security forces and symbols of state to discredit, take vengeance or destabilize society. It recalled two recent attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris: one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport last month.

For Sunday's vote, the government is mobilizing more than 50,000 police and gendarmes to protect the 70,000 polling stations, with an additional 7,000 soldiers also on patrol. </s> The attack happened just after 9 p.m. Thursday in the Champs Elysees shopping district in the heart of Paris.

A gunman armed with military style weapons walked up to a police van and opened fire.

"I saw three guys coming in a (green) Audi and shoot on the police and kill one of the police, and injure one, said Alex Fofana, an eyewitness.

"Then I had to run away. I was here working on the Champs-Elysees," he said.

A police officer was killed in the attack and two others were gravely wounded along with a woman tourist. The attacker was also killed and may have had accomplices.

ISIS claims responsibility and may have been directly involved rather than just inspiring the attack.

French authorities have not yet released the suspect's identity, but he was reportedly detained in Februrary for threatening police, then freed. Overnight, police searched his home in eastern Paris.

Here in the U.S., President Donald Trump condemned the attack.

"Our condolences from our county to the people of France," Trump said. "It looks like another terrorist attack; what can you say?"

The attack comes just days before the first round of the French elections on Sunday. Some think it might help the far right candidate, Marine Le Pen, who has taken a hard line on immigration issues.

The attack also shows the ongoing threat in France and elsewhere in Europe and it could lead to growing public pressure on governments to stop islamic terrorism.
Yesterday's terrorist attack in Paris disrupts campaigning for the elections.