As France's Mali mission grows, so does terror threat from homegrown militants inside France

PARIS – A top counterterrorism magistrate says the longer France's military intervention goes on in Mali, the greater the risk that homegrown Islamic militants will organize to plot attacks back in France.

Judge Marc Trevidic says young radicals in France see the Paris government as Enemy No. 1 in the "new jihad" and consider France's intervention in Mali last month to help its government fight al-Qaida-linked militants as an aggression against Islam.

Trevidic, an investigating judge involved in some of France's biggest terrorism cases in recent years, spoke to The Associated Press in an interview late Thursday as diplomats and other French officials increasingly say that French forces are likely to remain in the country at least through July.

Officials have been hoping for a gradual drawdown starting this month.