Suspects caught in anti-terror sweep were plotting Paris attacks

PARIS -- Authorities fear that a suspected Islamic terror cell broken up in France was plotting attacks on the Paris subway, an airport and an intelligence agency's headquarters, newspapers said Tuesday.

Police arrested nine people Monday, including an Islamic militant previously convicted on terrorism charges and freed from prison two years ago, officials said.

Le Figaro and Le Parisien newspapers said the alleged cell's suspected targets included the Metro, a Paris airport and the Paris headquarters of the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, or DST, a police intelligence and counterterrorism agency. The reports did not identify the airport.

Le Figaro said the suspected cell allegedly had al-Qaida contacts and that some of its members had knowledge of explosives.

DST agents launched the raid Monday after receiving a confidential note from Algerian authorities about the questioning of a suspect arrested Sept. 9 in Algiers, the Algerian capital, Le Parisien said.

The suspect and his wife were among the nine arrested.

The nine were apprehended in raids west of Paris and in Evreux, 55 miles northwest of the capital. Among those arrested was Safe Bourada, an Islamic militant convicted on terror charges and freed from prison in 2003, officials said. He had been under surveillance since his release.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy faced accusations Tuesday that he had tipped off reporters about the arrests -- which were photographed by waiting TV crews.

Sarkozy appeared to refer to the sweep in a television interview broadcast Monday night, after the suspects were in custody. But the interview was actually recorded five days earlier, before the raids took place.

The opposition Socialist Party demanded an explanation from Sarkozy while Le Parisien claimed that the minister had "let the cat out of the bag."

But Sarkozy spokesman Franck Louvrier told The Associated Press that the minister was either misunderstood or the target of political mudslinging. Sarkozy is a top contender to represent the conservatives in 2007 presidential elections.

Louvrier said the minister was actually referring to the arrests of six other suspects in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of Paris on Sept. 19. They were later released without charge.

Claims that Sarkozy was referring to impending raids were "false," the spokesman said, adding: "I think some people wanted to exploit this thing for political ends."

The minister used the TV interview to detail an anti-terrorism bill to be presented next month. Sarkozy said the government wants to increase use of surveillance cameras, make telephone companies and Internet cafes keep more detailed records and keep track of people traveling to countries that harbor militants.