There has been no terror attack on mainland France since 1995, when a series of bombings was claimed by a group calling itself the ArmedIslamicGroup general command.
The alleged cell, he said, was "probably the most dangerous" France had seen since the Algerian-based GIA (Armed IslamicGroup), which carried out a series of attacks in 1995-96.
The French security alert follows a plan, codenamed Vigipirate, which was first introduced in 1995 following a series of bombings in Paris that were blamed on Algerian guerrillas of the ArmedIslamicGroup (GIA).