French woman indicted on terrorist links

A young French woman, suspected of ties with a regional branch of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has been indicted of conspiracy to prepare for terrorist acts, Xinhua reported Friday.

According to French broadcaster Europe 1, the 21-year-old woman told police that she sent e-mails to AQAP offering it targets of attack but she did not receive any answer.

The young woman was arrested Tuesday morning at her apartment in Belleville district of northern Paris. She was also arrested by the Central Directorate of Homeland Intelligence or DCRI in February as part of an investigation over a Djihadist cell which recruited insurgents to go to Indonesia.

France has reinforced its security measures since January, when its forces intervened in Mali to help local authorities to repel Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels who had seized control of the north of the former French colony.

A total of seven French nationals are now in hands of Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the Sahel region.

A major terrorist bomb attack on Paris subway in 1995 killed eight people, leaving 200 injured.