Report- Militant planned embassy attack in Paris

PARIS -- A suspected Islamic militant had been planning attacks on the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in France before he was detained in Belgium, a radio station reported Saturday.

Richard Lankford, a spokes-man for the U.S. Embassy in Paris, said officials were aware of the report on Europe-1 radio but declined further comment.

The suspect, about 30 years old and of North African origin, was one of eight people detained in Belgium and the Netherlands in recent days during a joint operation against a suspected radical Islamic group, the French station said.

Police searched the man's home and found an automatic rifle and several documents, according to Europe-1, which did not cite sources.

A judicial official in Paris said she was not aware of links between the man taken in for questioning in Belgium and planned attacks in France. The prosecutor's office in Brussels did not answer the phone on Saturday.

Belgian authorities said Friday that they were investigating possible links between Osama bin Laden -- the prime suspect in Tuesday's terror attacks in the United States.

But authorities have said there was no evidence of a direct link between those detained in Europe and the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.