Police make 12 terror arrests in France

Those arrested are suspected of having links with Muslim extremists, news website 20minutes.fr reported.

Eight men were detained around the southern cities of Marseille and Avignon on suspicion of trafficking firearms and explosives.

A Kalashnikov rifle and a pump-action shotgun were said to be among the arsenal discovered.

According to French news channel LCI, three others were arrested in a separate operation.

It said they were suspected of being members of an extremist group and being part of a cell planning to supply shelter and fake ID papers to Jihadists attempting to return to France after undergoing training on the Afghan-Pakistan border.

Two of those suspects were arrested in Marseille and the third in Bordeaux, a police source told AFP.

Officials stressed that the two sets of arrests were not linked.

In the second raid, three of the suspects' phone numbers were found in the phone of Ryad Hannouni.

He had been picked up on Saturday close to the central train station in the Italian city of Naples, allegedly carrying a bomb-making kit.

The 28-year-old Algerian is suspected of being the head of the terror cell.

A European arrest warrant was issued for his extradition to France, ANSA news agency said.

There have been widespread terror threats across Europe in recent weeks, which led to the US State Department issuing a travel warning for the continent on Sunday.