France arrests Afghan with suspected links to Islamic State offshoot

PARIS: A 20-year-old man from Afghanistan suspected of having links to an offshoot of the Islamic State group has been arrested in France, anti-terrorism prosecutors said on Saturday.

The man was charged with participating in a criminal terrorist organisation and financing a terrorist enterprise, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) said.

The suspect, who was arrested in Lyon last week, was placed in pre-trial detention.

“Clearly adhering to jihadist ideology, he is suspected of having been in contact with IS-K (Islamic State in Khorasan),” the anti-terrorism unit said.

The man is suspected of “sending funds” and helping translate and relay “the propaganda of this terrorist organisation,” PNAT added.

The Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), the jihadist group’s branch in Afghanistan, also operates in Pakistan and former Soviet countries in Central Asia including Uzbekistan.

The group has been responsible for deadly attacks in Afghanistan and Russia, including an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March 2024 that killed 150 people.

According to French daily Le Parisien, the Afghan, who arrived in France several years ago, was arrested by officers from the DGSI domestic intelligence agency when he was already in an administrative detention centre in Lyon.