PARIS
Six people, including two youths, have been arrested in Lyon, east-central France, on suspicion of recruiting young women to fight in Syria, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said.
Six people including three men, a woman and two minors, were arrested on Tuesday morning and placed in custody, he told TV channel BFMTV on Wednesday.
According to media reports, the adults are suspected of participating in the recruitment of young women for "jihad", usually interpreted as meaning "struggle" within Islam but often used in Western media to describe acts of violence.
Handguns were seized during the raid on the Lyon suburbs of Meyzieu and Vaulx-en-Velin.
Bill approved
The arrests came a day after French lawmakers approved a travel ban on French nationals suspected of going to fight in countries including Syria and Iraq, as part of a new anti-terrorism bill.
The bill, which also advocates targeting "terrorism" on the internet, should be voted in an emergency procedure - just one reading - at the end of a debate on Wednesday.
Last week, Cazeneuve told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that some 930 French nationals had gone to Syria or Iraq to fight with militant groups.
To prevent such nationals joining extremist groups, the Interior Ministry launched a telephone hotline in April for families to alert authorities to "signs of Islamic radicalism".
www.aa.com.tr/en
