They were planning a holiday killing on a busy street for Christmas shopping or a mall in the Paris suburb.

French police arrested two 23-year-olds. The news, anticipated by Le Parisien, was confirmed by official sources close to the investigation.

The two wanted a "jihadist-inspired" attack, it was learned, and were arrested on November 29 in two locations in the Paris suburb, one in Meaux, the other in Pecq.

For some time they had been under observation by the security services who, starting from messages they had exchanged on the Internet and after a first "meeting in person", had understood that the project was about to be realized, it was "serious and imminent". In custody, the two were placed under investigation for "criminal association with a terrorist background" and arrested. At least one of the two, according to the sources of Le Parisien, denies everything.

The other admitted, on the other hand, that he had long discussed with his companion, known on the Internet, about the "operating modes" of the action: a "knife attack", "in a street, against civilians", defined in the hearings of the offender confessed as "disbelievers". Then, everything should have ended with "death as martyrs, killed by the police". The hypothesized places would have been "malls, universities" or Christmas shopping streets. Jihadist-style documentation, with the ISIS brand, was found in the cell phones and PCs seized from the two suspects. A knife was also found.

(Unioneonline / D)