Terror at French election – two arrested for planning 'violent attack on Francois Fillon'

France’s interior minister Matthias Fekl, told a news conference that the two men had been arrested for plotting to carry out a terror attack.

He said: “These two radicalised men, born in 1987 and 1993, of French nationality, intended to commit in the very short-term – by that I mean in the coming days – an attack on French soil.”

Mr Fekl said police were carrying out searches and that security surrounding the elections and the candidates had been strengthened.

Police, who had been hunting the pair since the end of last week, seized them a few minutes apart in the southeastern port city, a police source said.

The police source said the two men appeared to have turned to radical Islam during a term in prison. A search of a rented apartment was underway.

France goes to the polls to choose a new president on April 23, with a second round of voting due on May 7.

It’s thought that the planned attack could have been on presidential hopeful Francois Fillon.

His security officers were warned Friday of “proven risks” on the right-wing candidate in the presidential election.

The Ministry of Interior “had strengthened security in Montpellier”, where the candidate held a meeting on Friday, the source said, referring to the presence of “snipers” and members of the Raid Its public meetings.

According to these sources, fears surrounded the meeting of Mr. Fillon in Nice on Monday.

Two men aged 23 and 29 suspected of preparing an “imminent” attack were arrested Tuesday in Marseille, five days before the first round of the presidential election.

The two men are “suspected of a passage to the imminent act,” said a source close to the investigation. They were arrested by the DGSI in the course of a flagrant investigation opened in Paris on 12 April for criminal criminal terrorist association and breach of arms legislation in connection with a terrorist enterprise

France has been under a state of emergency, which has been extended several times, in the face of Islamist militant attacks in Paris and other parts of the country in which more than 230 people have been killed.

Earlier today, the Interior Minister said that security was tightened across France ahead of the election.

It comes after more than 230 people have died in Islamist militant attacks in the country over the past two years.

This is a breaking news story. Please refresh your browser for updates.