A group of suspected Islamist radicals face charges in France over allegations that they were carrying out weapons training and planning to kidnap a judge.
Prosecutor François Molins told a news conference the Forsane Alizza group, or Knights of Pride, did physical training in parks and forests, collected weapons and preached hate and violence on their internet site, which showed clips of late al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden.
The site was shut down after the authorities banned Forsane Alizza in March.
The 13 were among 17 suspects detained in police raids last week. They face preliminary charges of criminal association with a terrorist network, a sweeping charge with a maximum 10-year prison term that is used in France to ensure a full investigation of terror suspects. Nine of the 13 were being jailed, Molins said. Charges of acquiring, transporting and detention of arms also were issued. The remaining four, who had been detained, were being released.
The prosecutor said several terrorist plans appeared to be afoot, including the kidnapping of a judge in Lyon, in south-east France. An official close to the investigation said the targeted judge was Jewish.
Molins said the investigation showed the network was organised around the Forsane Alizza leader, Mohammed Achamlane, from the Nantes region in western France.
"All the suspects confirmed Mohammed Achamlane's role of animator, co-ordinator and emir, and his constant concern about acquiring weapons," Molins said.
Molins said the alleged plan to kidnap a magistrate who had dealt with a child abuse case of a member of the Lyon cell was hatched at a meeting in September. The magistrate in question has been placed under police protection.
Other potential targets included people from groups that have spoken out against the Muslim community, the prosecutor said. It was not known whether this was a reference to groups actively seeking to protect the French identity and decrying what they describe as the Islamisation of France. Such groups are gaining strength around France.
Police found caches of weapons during raids on Friday in the Paris region and the cities of Nantes, Marseille, Nice, and Toulouse, as well as documents and computer equipment. The investigation had so far shown that members consulted internet sites showing how to make explosives, Molins said.
The prosecutor stressed the group had no link to the three attacks last month around Toulouse that left seven people dead: three paratroopers, a rabbi and three Jewish school children. The Toulouse gunman, Mohamed Merah, 23, who had claimed to have links to al-Qaida, was killed after a long armed standoff with police. The authorities have said his case was an example of so-called lone-wolf terrorism, and claimed that Merah became radical on his own, in his prison cell.
Nonetheless, investigators are still searching for any potential accomplices of Merah's, and his older brother remains in custody.
