Paris, France (BBN)-France has mobilised 115,000 security personnel in the wake of Friday’s Paris attacks by Islamist militants, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said.
Cazeneuve said 128 more raids on suspected militants were carried out. French air strikes also hit Islamic State in Syria overnight, reports BBC.
IS has said it carried out the attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and a stadium in which 129 people died.
A huge manhunt is under way for one of the suspects, Salah Abdeslam.
He is believed to have fled across the border to his native Belgium.
Belgian police have released more pictures of the wanted man.
Belgium’s government has raised its terror threat level because of the failure so far to arrest Abdeslam.
Tuesday’s football match between the national team and Spain has been cancelled as a result.
Cazeneuve said: “We have mobilised 115,000 police, gendarmes and military over the whole of our national territory to insure the protection of French people.”
He vowed to boost funding for police equipment, which he said had fallen by 17 per cent in 2007-12.
The interior minister added that 128 raids on suspected Islamist militants had been carried out overnight on Monday to Tuesday.
More than 160 raids were made earlier on Monday, with 23 people arrested and dozens of weapons seized.
French media reported that during raids police found a safe house used by the attackers in Bobigny, a suburb of Paris.
Meanwhile France has evoked a previously unused clause in the Treaty on European Union obliging other member states to provide it with “aid and assistance by all means in their power”.
Within minutes, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that all 28 member states had agreed.
“Today France asked the European Union for aid and assistance. And today the whole of Europe replied in unison: ‘Yes’.” she tweeted (in French).
The measures came as US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Paris.
Speaking on Monday, he described IS as “psychopathic monsters”.
After meeting French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday, he said everyone understood that after Paris and other recent attacks “we have to step up efforts to hit them at the core” and improve border security.
Hollande is due to fly to Washington and Moscow next week for talks with US and Russian leaders.
MORE ON THE PARIS ATTACKS
What happened in Paris? How events unfurled on Friday evening in the French capital.
Who were the victims? Details of some of the 129 people killed in the attacks.
The fight against Islamic State at home and abroad The attacks have highlighted once again the difficulties in providing total security in a modern, open Western capital.
Most wanted: Alleged mastermind Profile of key suspect Abdelhamid Abaaoud, thought to be behind the attacks and now based in Syria.
Anonymous ‘declares war’ on Islamic State The hacking group vows to use its knowledge to “unite humanity” and “hunt down” IS members.
Meanwhile early on Tuesday, French warplanes carried out fresh strikes against the IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, the army general staff said, destroying a command centre and training centre.
The attacks in Paris – which also left more than 400 people wounded, some critically – have galvanised Western countries in their campaign against the so-called Islamic State.
UK Chancellor George Osborne said in a speech that IS was trying to develop the ability to launch deadly cyber-attacks on the UK.
During a visit to the GCHQ listening station in Cheltenham, he announced that the UK’s investment in fighting cybercrime would double.
President Hollande told a rare joint session of the French parliament on Monday that he would table a bill to extend for three months the state of emergency declared after the attacks. Parliament will vote on the measure on Wednesday.
PRESIDENT HOLLANDE’S PROPOSALS
Extension of state of emergency by three months
Changes to the constitution to allow the government to revoke citizenship of any convicted terrorists of dual nationality.
Currently only those born outside France and naturalised can lose their citizenship
Measures to speed up expulsion of foreign nationals considered a threat to public order
Budget increases and extra recruitment to security forces and judiciary
According to Prime Minister Manuel Valls, intelligence services have files on 10,500 individuals who have been radicalised to a greater or lesser extent.
Seven people were detained in Belgium over the weekend, two of whom were charged on Monday with “participating in a terrorist attack”.
The other five were later released, including Mohammed Abdeslam, the brother of two suspects – Brahim Abdeslam, killed during the attacks, and Salah Abdeslam.
SUSPECTED PARIS ATTACKERS
Salah Abdeslam, 26 – urgently sought by police
Brahim Abdeslam, 31 – named as attacker who died near Bataclan concert hall
Omar Ismail Mostefai, 29, from near Paris – died in attack on Bataclan
Bilal Hadfi, 20 – named as attacker who died at Stade de France
Ahmad al-Mohammad, 25, from Idlib, Syria – died at Stade de France (unverified)
Samy Amimour, 28, from near Paris – suicide bomber at Bataclan
Two other attackers died during the assaults in the city
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