France charges 18-year-old over IS attack plot

France has detained and charged an 18-year-old man on suspicion of planning an imminent attack with a knife in the name of Islamic State (IS) jihadists, a judicial source said Wednesday.

Initial investigations indicated that he planned to carry out an attack “in the name of IS, to which he had pledged allegiance”, said the source, who asked not to be named.

The source added that the man had been detained in the Drome region of southeast France by France’s DGSI domestic intelligence agency, and indicted in Paris on charges of “terrorist conspiracy to prepare one or several attacks against people”.

“Thanks to the DGSI agents who were able to detain an individual who was planning an Islamist attack this weekend,” which begins with a Thursday bank holiday to mark the Ascension, a main Catholic feast day, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on Twitter.

The man, from a Muslim family, had become increasingly radicalised and was considered a threat, sparking France’s anti-terror prosecutors office to open an investigation on May 19, a source close to the case said.

Police arrested him on Friday and a video of him swearing allegiance to IS was found in his possession.

His statements in detention confirmed an attack was planned, most likely against random people in the street, the source said.

France remains on high alert since a wave of jihadist attacks that began in 2015, which have left more than 250 people dead.

There has been no repeat of a mass atrocity like the 2015 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, but there have been several deadly attacks carried out by lone individuals.