One of the three radical Islamist extremists who plotted to blow up a residential building in Paris claimed that killing babies was justified, according to the Islamic prophet Mohammed.
Aymen B., one of the three plotters along with his cousin Sami B. and another man named Amine A., wrote that the prophet Mohammed authorised jihadists to “attack the enemy at night with the risk of killing babies and children”.
The Franco-Tunisian, along with his two other accomplices, are alleged to have plotted to blow up a residential building in Paris’s 16th district. After three years of investigation, the men face trial for their alleged terror plot, Le Parisien reports.
The three men were initially arrested shortly after September 30th, 2017, when a chef discovered four gas canisters and four buckets of gasoline linked to a detonator connected to a mobile phone in his apartment building.
The tenant was able to move the gas canisters into the street while alerting police, potentially saving the lives of the residents, including families with children, in the 29 apartments. The bomb is said to have been powerful enough that if it had detonated, it would have ripped the building apart.
Cousins Aymen and Sami B. were on the French terror watchlist known as the S-File, and their DNA was found on a part of the explosive device left at the apartment building.
Despite being under surveillance by the French General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), the men were able to hide their plans from intelligence services.
Amine A., the third man accused of taking part in the plot, is suspected of being the instigator. He has denied the charges, telling investigators he had previously collaborated with the police and the DGSI and claimed he was monitoring Aymen B.
Investigators believe the men either chose the residential building because they associated it with the local Jewish community, or intentionally sought out family dwellings to instil fear in the minds of France’s citizens.
Radical Islamic terror continues to be a major security threat in France. The country has been on its highest alert since the Nice terror attack in October that saw a Tunisian illegal migrant murder three people in a church.