An “Islamic-inspired” attack against the 2024 Olympic Games was thwarted in Saint-Étienne, in central-eastern France, by the secret services, who detained a Chechen suspect, the Interior Ministry reported on Friday.
“On May 22, 2024, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) detained an 18-year-old Chechen citizen in Saint-Étienne (Loire), suspected of planning an Islamic-inspired attack on French soil,” the ministry stated in a communiqué.
This is the “first attack thwarted during the Olympic Games” in Paris (July 26 – August 11) and the third since the beginning of the year, the ministry added.
Regarding the young Chechen detainee, “initial evidence indicates that he was actively preparing an attack on the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium during the football matches to be held there” during the Olympic Games, the ministry specified.
According to the communiqué, “he intended to target spectators, as well as the police, and die as a martyr.”