French anti-terror sweep results in nine detained

Nine people detained Monday in the Paris area and in Normandy in an anti-terror crackdown on a group suspected of having ties to Algerian militants, officials said.

French television station LCI said the group was suspected of planning attacks in France.

The sweep was part of an investigation opened in July by anti-terror judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, judicial officials said on customary condition of anonymity. Those detained were suspected of being members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an Algerian militant group known by its French initials GSPC.

French terrorism expert Jean-Luc Marret said the GSPC made threats against France on a Web site this summer.

Italian authorities, meanwhile, conducted raids of apartments and offices linked to 11 Algerians suspected of sending money to the GSPC, which has declared its allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. No arrests were made.

Officials in both countries said the raids were apparently not coordinated, reports the AP.