5 'terror planners' arrested in France

Paris, Jan 20: Five Russians, believed to be Chechens, were arrested in southern France on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack, a media report said on Tuesday.

According to The Independent, authorities said that a cache of explosives was discovered during a series of police raids overnight in the town of Beziers and near the city of Montpellier.

The explosives were found near a local football stadium, the report said, citing the local newspaper Midi Libre.

It was not immediately clear whether the stadium was a hiding place for the accused, or if an attack on the stadium itself was planned.

The mostly Muslim republic of Chechnya, a part of the Russian Federation, saw over a million people rallying in the capital Grozny Monday to protest against the caricature of Prophet Muhammad in the media.

The rally came after a terror attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which courted controversy over the caricature of the Prophet.

IANS