From Guardian today.
(Please note use of word "Islamist.")
(Please note that Merah is being reported as an Islamist and not as a random madman.)


French police arrested 10 suspected Islamist militants in early-morning raids on Wednesday in a clampdown ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy, after seven people were killed last month by an al-Qaida-inspired gunman.

The DCRI domestic intelligence service, supported by elite police commandos, carried out arrests in the southern cities of Marseille and Valence, two towns in the south-west and in the north-eastern town of Roubaix, a police source said.

The pre-dawn raids follow the arrest of 19 people on 30 March, a week after police snipers shot dead Mohamed Merah, who killed three Jewish schoolchildren, a rabbi and three soldiers in a spate of attacks around Toulouse.

"Those arrested have a similar profile to Mohamed Merah," a local police source said. "They are isolated individuals, who are self-radicalised."

He said the suspects were tracked on Islamist forums expressing extreme views and said they were preparing to travel to areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Sahel belt to wage jihad.

Some of those arrested had already travelled and returned to France, the source said.