Updated

Police have detained six people in the Paris region suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in France.

The Paris prosecutor's office said Tuesday that the six are being questioned by anti-terrorist investigators, and are believed to have been part of a radical Islamic terrorist cell.

Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre says the suspects were detained Monday and remained in custody Tuesday, she said. They can be held up to four days under France's anti-terrorism laws.

France has been on higher alert for potential attacks since French troops entered Mali earlier this year, to push out al-Qaida-linked extremists who had seized much of the West African country and have threatened France and Europe.