French Police Arrest Two Men Pledged to ISIS Just Before a Planned Attack and Possible Assassination of French Presidential Candidate

One of the possible presidential-candidate targets seems to be Francis Fillon, Les Republicanes' candidate, who's not much of a threat to win the race mostly due to his wife being caught in some kind of no-show-job-for-a-paycheck scandal. I think he's in fourth place, after the pro-EU socialist Macron, the FN's Le Pen, and a far-left guy leading the umbrella parties of the left (Communists, etc.) named Melachon, who's anti-EU. But very far left.

The other possibility is Le Pen, who planned on holding a rally in Marseille (where these terrorists were based) tomorrow.

Anyway, who knows, maybe this will help Fillon. The first round of voting is on Sunday, I think. Then they'll have a run off of the top two finishers (which is why LePen can't win -- usually, all other parties unite against an FN candidate who finishes top two in the first round).

One attack thwarted, but who knows how many others are planned?

British intelligence officers helped foil a 'Day of the Jackal' style plot by two Islamic State fanatics to murder a French presidential candidate, it emerged tonight.

Clement Baur, 23, and Mahiedine Merabet, 29, were in a high security prison after their rented flat in Marseille was raided on Tuesday afternoon as they prepared for 'an imminent attack'.

Both French nationals were known to police as radical Islamists who had converted in prison while serving time for drugs offences.

...

Agents from the DGSI, France domestic secret service, found weapons in the Marseille apartment, along with TATP, the so-called 'Mother of Satan' explosives that are frequently used by jihadis.

...

'Intelligence about the men came from British officers working to combat terrorism in Europe,' said a source close to the case.

Police found a video made by the two men in which they declared allegiance to ISIS and a Le Monde newspaper front page showing the right-wing conservative politician Francois Fillon.

It was part of a photomontage that included a machine gun, an Isis flag, ammunition and the words 'The Law of Talion,' after a fictional character in an intensely violent videogame.

Photographs of the terror suspects had been given to Fillon's and Le Pen's staffs, so that they could be on the look out.

posted by Ace at 06:59 PM

| Access Comments