Woman held after 'foiled' Paris attack declared ISIL follower

A 19-year-old woman arrested in a probe into a car found laden with gas cylinders in Paris had pledged allegiance to the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) and was preparing an imminent attack, French officials said Friday (September 9th).

French President François Hollande said a terror cell had been shut down and an attack "foiled", after Ines Madani and two other women were arrested, AFP reported.

Investigators believe Madani is the main suspect in a probe into the Peugeot 607 found a few hundred metres from Notre Dame cathedral on Sunday. She is the daughter of the car's owner.

The car contained five full gas cylinders and three bottles of diesel fuel and was discovered with its hazard lights flashing. Its license plates had been removed.

Madani had sworn allegiance to ISIL in a letter found in her possession, according to a source in the investigation.

A police source said security services had issued a warning Thursday about a possible attack on train stations in Paris and the area where the women lived.

France is on high alert after ISIL called on its followers to attack the country in revenge for airstrikes on the group's bases in Syria and Iraq.

France's top anti-terrorism prosecutor François Molins has warned that radicalised individuals, who have often received weapons and explosives training, are a "time bomb" as they flee ISIL and Syria and return home.

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