“Officers from the General Directorate for Internal Security and the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, acting under the request of magistrates of the Paris anti-terrorist center, carried out five arrests as well as several searches,” Cazeneuve said in a statement.
The detained, aged 26 to 44, are suspected of active participation in a terrorist network and recruitment of French youth into radical groups.
According to local media, some 20 residents of Lunel had left for Syria to join the fighting against government forces.
A similar anti-jihadist raid took place in Belgium, where three men were arrested in the town of Kortrijk, 6 miles from the French border, local media reported Tuesday, citing a source from the Prosecutor's Office.
France stepped up its counter-terrorism activities following a string of terrorist attacks that hit the Paris region in early January. Suspected Islamic extremists killed a total of 17 people in three separate incidents, each a day apart.
