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France thwarts 'imminent attack;' 4 arrests, explosive found
PARIS (AP) -- Anti-terrorism forces arrested four people Friday in southern France, including a 16-year-old girl, and uncovered a makeshift laboratory with the explosive TATP and other ingredients for fabricating a bomb. France's top security official said the raid thwarted an "imminent attack."
A police official said the teen had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group in a recent video.
The prosecutor's office said around 70 grams (2.5 ounces) of TATP were seized in the Montpellier-area home of a 20-year-old man, along with a liter each of acetone, oxygenated water and sulfuric acid. TATP, which can be made from readily available materials, was used in the deadly November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attack in Brussels carried out by Islamic State extremists.
Two other men were arrested, a 33-year-old and a 26-year-old, along with the teenage girl, according to the prosecutor's office, which handles terrorism investigations in France.
The police official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation, said one of the suspects was believed to be planning a suicide attack but that the investigation had not yet uncovered a specific target.
He said person in the group had tried to reach Syria in 2015 and was known to intelligence services. The group -- notably the girl -- attracted new attention with their social media postings, he said.
Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux said the arrests in three locations in the Montpellier area "thwarted an imminent attack on French soil."
Iraqi officials: Suicide bombings in eastern Mosul kill 5
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Two suicide bombings in the eastern half of the Iraqi city of Mosul, including one that hit a popular restaurant, killed at least five people on Friday and wounded over a dozen others, Iraqi military and medical officials said.
The Islamic State group, which still firmly controls western Mosul, a more densely populated urban area, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul liberated from IS weeks ago, allowing for a semblance of normalcy to slowly return to that part of the city -- including residents playing soccer games and walking about without the restrictions imposed by the Sunni militant group. IS had ruled the entire city and large swaths of northern and western Iraq for over two years, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
The restaurant targeted on Friday -- the popular Sayda Jamila, located near a traffic circle by the same name -- was among a few that had recently reopened. Shops selling clothing, mobile phones and fresh produce trucked in from nearby Irbil have also opened their doors, though clean drinking water and other services remain in short supply in eastern Mosul.
Along with four people killed in the restaurant blast, seven were wounded, Iraqi military and security officials said.
The second attack on Friday targeted a checkpoint in the Nour neighborhood and killed one solider and wounded seven people, according to military officials. Three soldiers were among those wounded in the checkpoint attack. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters
Greeks prepare to evacuate 75,000 to defuse WWII bomb
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) -- Authorities in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki distributed fliers and put up posters Friday as part of preparations to evacuate about 75,000 people in order to defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb.
Bomb disposal experts are to tackle the device, found buried beneath a gas station, on Sunday in an operation expected to last about six hours. All residents in a nearly 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius are to be evacuated, starting at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) Sunday. The bomb, dropped during an air raid on the city in the 1940s, was found last week during work to expand fuel storage tanks.
A state of emergency has been declared in the three municipalities involved and about 1,000 police and 300 volunteers are expected to help out during the evacuation, Thessaloniki's Deputy Governor Voula Patoulidou told The Associated Press.