French police clamp down on potential sectarian attacks

Two days after announcing the expulsion of an Islamist radical, who was living illegally here, French authorities said on Monday they had arrested a solider last week who was alleged to be planning an attack against a Mosque in the city of Lyon. The expulsion of a Tunisian national announced Saturday in a statement by the Interior Ministry was justified by threats the individual had made against two journalists here and also other suspicious activities linked with radical groups. The Interior Ministry said it arrrested the soldier, who is now in detention, for allegedly planning a gun attack against the Lyon Mosque in France's third-largest city. The soldier was said to have links with extreme-righist groups here, known for their anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic and zenophobic attitudes. He has been charged for "association with a terrorist enterprise" and he is also said to have been involved in an earlier fire-bomb attack against another Mosque.