French police raids net 19 arrests PARIS, March 30 (UPI) -- Police raids on suspected Islamic militants across France resulted in at least 19 arrests, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday. The Interior Ministry said the arrests happened in Marseille, Nantes, Lyon, Ile de France region around Paris and Toulouse, where police last week shot and killed Mohammed Merah, who shot and killed seven people in a series of attacks in and near the city in southwestern France, CNN said. It's not just linked to Toulouse, it's all over the country. It's in connection with a form of radical Islam and it's in agreement with the law," Sarkozy said on Europe 1. Officials did not say whether any of the people arrested had ties to Merah. The raids and arrests came the day after Merah was buried near Toulouse because Algeria, where his father lives, refused to accept his body, Radio France Internationale reported. Sarkozy said weapons, including rifles, handguns, stun guns and knives, also were found. "There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here," he said. It's our duty to guarantee the security of the French people. We have no choice. It's absolutely indispensable. The Interior Ministry said in a statement the 19 arrests "were made in connection with the group Forsane Alizza," a French pro-al Qaida group banned in January for encouraging French residents to go to Afghanistan to fight jihad.