French President Francois Hollande (R) speaks with Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve (C) and Prime Minister Manuel Valls at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, April 22, 2015.  PARIS (AP) — An Islamic extremist with an arsenal of heavy weapons planned an imminent attack on one or more French churches, France's top security official said Wednesday, announcing the arrest of the man who is also accused in the death of a young mother. A French security official, who was not authorized to publicly release details of the arrest, said the suspect — an Algerian who had lived in France for several years — was arrested Sunday after he apparently shot himself by accident and called for an ambulance. France heightened surveillance of potential suspects and deployed troops to patrol sensitive sites after Islamist militants killed 17 people in January in attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish food store. Police found weapons and bullet-proof vests in the Algerian's car and at his home, as well as printed material on Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. "Detailed documents that were found established beyond doubt that the individual was planning an imminent attack, probably on one or two churches," said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. The authorities have carried out security checks on the suspect twice in recent years but did not uncover anything to justify further investigation. Le Monde newspaper said police believe that the suspect had tried on Sunday to steal the car of the woman who was later found dead and shot himself by accident during the aborted robbery.
– A terrorist attack on one or more churches in Paris may only have been thwarted because the suspect couldn't handle a gun, according to French authorities. The country's interior minister says a 24-year-old Algerian national was arrested on Sunday after he apparently shot himself and called for an ambulance, the BBC reports. Police say they followed a blood trail to a car containing attack plans and loaded guns, the AP reports. A search of the suspect's apartment found more weapons and evidence of links to Islamic extremism. The minister says the documents that police found leave no doubt that an attack was imminent, according to Reuters. The man is also a suspect in the murder of a 32-year-old woman who was found dead in her car on Sunday, the BBC reports.