France arrests two men 'who tried to join IS in Libya'

November 30, 2015 21:44

Two French men arrested attempting to join Islamic State fighters in Libya via neighbouring Tunisia are now being held in Paris.

The suspects, aged 19 and 20, who told authorities they were on their way to a training camp so they could fight in Syria, were arrested in southern Tunisia and flown to France on November 13, the day of the Paris attacks, a judicial source told AFP today.

It is the first time French citizens have been held trying to join jihadists in Libya, where an IS affiliate group holds the city of Sirte, the hometown of the country's deposed leader Moamer Kadhafi.

The two men, one from Lyon and the other from the southern port of Marseille, did not know each other before meeting up in Tunisia, a source said.

The 20-year-old girlfriend of one of the men, a convert to Islam who authorities said had at one stage intended to join her partner in Libya, has also been charged with terrorist offences.

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