French special services detained three supporters of the Islamic State, according to Telegram channel Directorate 4.

The detainees are young men aged 19 to 24 years old. During searches in the flats of the detainees, law enforcement officers found instructions for the manufacture of explosives, propaganda materials of the IS, the text of the oath of allegiance to the leader of the group Abu Hafs Al-Hashimi Al-Qureishi and an unfinished suicide belt.

One of the detainees was known to the intelligence services. In 2020, he threatened a schoolgirl who recorded a video criticising Islam. Another detainee, who security forces believe to be the cell's leader, published jihadist materials on social media, threatened to “drown all non-believers in blood” and praised Chechen-born Khamzat Azimov, who carried out the Paris terrorist attack.

According to the security services, the trio planned to organise a terrorist attack in a place of mass gathering of people. Law enforcers noted that the detainees dreamed of repeating the attack on the Bataclan theatre. Information about one of the organisers of the attack was published earlier.