France Detains Six People Suspected Of Recruiting Jihadists

Six people have been detained in France on suspicion of recruiting
candidates for jihad, a judicial source said Wednesday, as the number
of French citizens travelling to Iraq and Syria increases.

The suspects, two of whom are minors, were held in the suburbs of the
eastern city of Lyon as part of an "anti-terrorism" probe launched in
July.

According to a police source, a brother and a sister are among those
detained since Tuesday, and one of the suspects is linked to Forsane
Alizza (Knights of Pride), an Islamist extremist group that had called
for France to become an Islamic caliphate and was banned in 2012.

The detentions come amid concerns in France about the number of
citizens travelling to Iraq and Syria to wage jihad.

According to Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, around 930 French
citizens have travelled to and from the two violence-ridden countries
recently, a 74-percent increase in eight months.

The country's lower house National Assembly has been debating an
anti-terrorism bill, of which a key measure is a travel ban on anyone
suspected of "planning to travel abroad to take part in terrorist
activities, war crimes or crimes against humanity or in a theatre of
operations of terrorist groups."

The measure -- which was approved by the National Assembly on Tuesday
evening -- would see suspects have their passports and ID cards
confiscated for six months, renewable for up to two years.