Paris police thwarted a terror attack Thursday night, arresting three female suspects known to have been radicalized by militant Islamists.

Three women appeared to have been planning an “imminent and violent” attack in Paris, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve stated.

Referring to the suspects as “radicalized fanatics,” Cazeneuve told reporters that the arrest was made following an investigation in connection with gas cylinders left inside a car in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

On Saturday night a car loaded with seven gas cylinders – six of them full – was discovered, prompting an inquiry by counter-terrorism experts.

A police officer was wounded in the shoulder when one of the women stabbed him during the arrest, which was made Thursday in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, southeast of Paris. The injury is not life-threatening.

“I would like to express my gratitude to him and to his colleagues who had to open fire when faced with individuals armed with knives,” the minister stated.

The unidentified women are 19, 23 and 39 years old.

The 19-year-old has been known to police for wanting to leave for Syria, likely to join Islamic State terrorists.

France has been hit by several deadly Islamic terror attacks in the last couple of years, some causing mass casualties.

“France is confronted with a terrorist threat of unprecedented scale,” Cazeneuve declared, conceding that they were often difficult to detect and calling for the “vigilance of all citizens.”

Documents with writing in Arabic were found in the car, which had no registration plates.

By: World Israel News Staff
(With files from The Guardian)