Spanish authorities have announced the arrest of three suspected Chechen Islamist militants in France.
Spain’s Interior Ministry said on March 1 that agents from France’s secret service arrested the trio on February 26 as part of a joint French-Spanish operation.
The ministry said two suspects, Elsy Issakov and Mourad Idrissov, were detained in the Paris suburbs.
The third one was arrested in the city of Noyon, around 100 kilometers from the French capital.
The Spanish Interior Ministry said the detainees were linked to an Al-Qaeda cell in southern Spain that was broken up in August 2012.
It said the cell was suspected of planning attacks in Europe and had support in France and other countries.