Workers hang a banner showing a portrait of Aurelie Chatelain while a black ribbon is set up around the French flag on the front of the city hall of Caudry, northern France, Wednesday, April 22, 2015. An Islamic extremist with an arsenal of loaded guns was only prevented from opening fire on churchgoers because he accidentally shot himself in the leg, French officials said Wednesday. Aurelie Chatelain, a 32-year-old Frenchwoman visiting Paris for a training session for her work, was found shot to death on Sunday morning in her car. The security official said Chatelain appeared to have been killed at random and ballistics evidence linked her death to the suspect.( AP Photo/Michel Spingler) (The Associated Press)
PARIS – France's prime minister says five attacks have been thwarted in France since a January assault by Islamic extremist gunmen left 20 people dead, including the attackers.
Manuel Valls told France Inter radio on Thursday that the five included the planned attack officials said was thwarted Sunday when the would-be gunman apparently shot himself in the leg by accident and called for an ambulance, raising the suspicion of the police.
"The threat has never been so significant," Valls said.
Authorities say the 24-year-old Algerianarrested in Paris on Sunday was targeting one or more churches and was linked to the shooting death of a young woman. The computer science student had been flagged as a security risk this year and in 2014, but managed to amass an arsenal of weapons.
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