PARIS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- French police detained five suspects after four gas cylinders were discovered Friday in a building in Paris, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb confirmed on Tuesday.
Police found two cylinders of gas in the hall of a building in the city's 16th arrondissement and two others on the sidewalk. They also discovered a mobile phone linked to the cylinders, which was believed to be a home-made bomb.
Speaking to France Inter radio, Collomb stressed the likely attack showed that France was still in war against terrorism, warning "that the level of the threat in France is extremely important."
Asked about the target, the minister said: "I don't know. Is blowing a building in a chic district of Paris a sign to show that no one is in peace?"
Five people were arrested with links to the found gas cylinders, with one of them already on police radar.
"All those who thought that we had to loosen the capacity of our services to go ahead, to try to watch, to have the information, they are wrong," Collomb said as lawmakers are due to vote on a controversial anti-terrorism law which would turn emergency security rules into law.
