A young French woman who joked about “paying homage” to Osama bin Laden has been arrested with two alleged female accomplices on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack on a bar or concert hall in Paris on the eve of the tenth anniversary of terrorist atrocities in the capital.
The trio, aged 18, 19 and 21, were taken into custody last month and charged with “criminal terrorist conspiracy”, French media reported on Saturday. They have been described as loners who spend much of their time at home watching Islamist propaganda.
The 19-year-old woman, thought to be the leader of the group, has a TikTok account on which she publishes pro-jihadist content.
The woman, who is unemployed and from Lyon, allegedly wrote that she planned to acquire a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle and explosive belts to stage an attack, killing innocent people and becoming a martyr.
She said she was looking for “equipment for two people” and “someone to teach [her] how to use it” and was “ready to act” as soon as her explosive belt was made.
“I want to blow everything up there … I want to pay homage to bin Laden!” she said to the 18-year-old woman, when both were summoned to attend a day of mandatory civic service, Le Parisien reported. If only the organisers “knew there was a terrorist among them”, the other woman replied.
In a transcript obtained by Le Parisien, officers from the general directorate for internal security (DGSI), the French equivalent of MI5, noted: “Although this exchange appears to be in jest, it demonstrates a certain radical commitment among the young women.”
In a separate incident, three other people have been arrested in the past few days after allegedly handing a USB key containing Islamist propaganda to Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the gang responsible for the November 13 attacks in Paris in 2015, the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office announced on Saturday. Abdeslam, 36, is serving a life sentence in a jail in the Pas de Calais, northern France.
Abdeslam was one of nine terrorists involved in the 2015 attacks, the worst in French history. On Saturday Parisians left candles, bouquets and tributes to the victims of attacks at the Place de la République in 2015, as part of a series of commemoration events. More than 130 people died in the attacks. The worst carnage was at the Bataclan music hall in eastern Paris, where 90 died. Others were killed in nearby bars and cafés, and in a botched attempt to bomb the Stade de France on the northern outskirts of the city.
Salah Abdeslam
POLICE NATIONALE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Among those arrested last week was Abdeslam’s partner, named only as Maëva B, 27, who began writing to the terrorist after he was jailed and “married” him by telephone in a religious ceremony in the summer of 2022. She is alleged to have handed him the USB key during a visit.
Abdeslam was given permission to buy a computer to follow courses, but it is not connected to the internet.
The threat of jihadist attacks in France has been growing for the past three years and is “the most significant” danger to security, “both in its scale and in the level of preparation for attacks”, Olivier Christen, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor, told the AFP news agency.
The three young women whose arrest was reported on Saturday were said to have been under close surveillance by the DGSI since the summer. The Sunday Times has contacted the prosecutor’s office and the women’s lawyers for comment.
Their potential target does not appear to have been determined, but the group were reported to have mentioned concert halls, bars and nightclubs in the capital.
The aftermath of the 2015 terror attacks in Paris
MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Le Parisien reported that the search of the 19-year-old’s home revealed a notebook listing the steps and details of her planned attack, ingredients for making an explosive belt, the cost of a Kalashnikov and potential targets.
During questioning, she claimed to have abandoned the plan over the summer but was reported to have made no secret of her hatred for the French system, stating that she wanted to “live under sharia law”. The woman’s lawyer declined to comment when contacted by Le Parisien.
The 21-year-old, thought to have converted to Islam in 2023, has been using a wheelchair since the age of 15. She left home after falling out with her mother, initially sleeping rough in Paris, but now lives in a flat in central France, where police were reported to have found an Islamic State flag. She has been treated for schizophrenia and reported by her mother for suicidal tendencies.
According to her lawyer, she denied any involvement and claimed to have dissuaded the 19-year-old from carrying it out.
The 18-year-old, described as childish, was said by two friends not to have been involved. Her lawyer, Jean-Baptiste Riolacci, told RTL television: “We still know very little about the extent to which the alleged plan was developed, if indeed it was serious.
“We will soon see whether the remarks she may have made or heard constituted a serious threat or, as one might suspect, the futile and unfortunate attempts of a very young girl to escape her loneliness.”