Three female militants targeted train stations in Paris: report

Three female suspects arrested on Thursday evening had planned to attack two train stations and police officials in Paris, BFMTV reported on Friday.

According to the report, the suspected militants targeted Gare de Lyon, one of Paris' main train stations and another one at Boussy-Saint-Antoine in southeastern Paris.

The "radicalized and fanatical" women armed with knives also planned to attack police officers, the report added.

The suspects, aged 19, 23 and 39, were likely preparing violent and imminent attacks, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters late Thursday.

One of the militants stabbed a police officer before being shot and wounded by anti-terrorism units.

On Sunday, a Peugeot 607 containing seven gas cylinders, including an empty one on the front passenger seat, and three cans of diesel fuel was found near the famous tourist place Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Anti-terrorism units did not discover detonators in the car, which carried no registration plate, but they found documents written in Arabic language.

Before the three women were arrested, four people -- two brothers and their girlfriends -- were already in custody over the discovery.

The first couple were arrested on a motorway in southern France and are known to the security services for links to radical Islamists. The man's brother and his girlfriend were arrested late Wednesday. Endi