Europe Remains on Guard Against Possible Terror Threats

(October 6, 2010)

Europe remained on guard against possible terror threats Tuesday as French authorities arrested 12 people in operations against people with ties to suspected Islamic extremists.

According to a Reuters report, two men were arrested by anti-terror police in Marseille and a third person taken into custody in Bordeaux for alleged involvement in a ring supplying false papers to extremists returning from Afghanistan.

Contact information on the three was found in the possession of Ryad Hannouni, who was arrested in Naples, Italy, in possession of a bomb-making kit.

Nine others were arrested in a separate operation in Marseille and Avignon targeting a "suspected Islamist network," police told CBS News. Firearms, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle, were seized in one of the searches.

Police said searches in that operation were still ongoing, but there has been no confirmation that the operations were related to the broader European terror threat or a specific threat against France.

French Police said the two sets of arrests were unrelated to each other.