Image copyright AFP Image caption The man was known to French intelligence services 
 
 French police have arrested a man suspected of planning an attack on "one or two churches" in a Paris suburb, the country's interior minister has said. 
 
 Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a 24-year-old Algerian national, was detained on Sunday in Paris after he apparently shot himself by accident and called an ambulance. 
 
 He is also being questioned over the murder of a woman on Sunday. 
 
 France has stepped up security in the wake of recent attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices and a Jewish supermarket. 
 
 Ghlam was known to security services as having expressed a wish to travel to Syria to fight with Islamist militants, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. 
 
 When police arrived at the scene on Sunday, they followed a trail of blood to the suspect's car, where they found weapons and notes on potential targets. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Police are questioning the suspect in connection with the murder of Aurelie Chatelain 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption They are searching a neighbourhood in Saint-Dizier, north-eastern France, where Ghlam spent time with his family 
 
 The documents established "beyond doubt" that Ghlam planned on attacking churches, said Mr Cazeneuve. 
 
 "Several war weapons, hand guns, ammunition [and] bullet-proof vests," were found in his car and home, the minister added. 
 
 Documents linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State were also found at his apartment, the Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said. A contact in Syria had advised Ghlam to target churches, he added. 
 
 The authorities have carried out security checks on the suspect twice in recent years but did not uncover anything to justify further investigation. 
 
 Victim 
 
 It is not known yet what link the man has to the murdered woman, Aurelie Chatelain, who was found dead in her car in Villejuif, a Paris suburb, on Sunday. 
 
 Passers-by discovered her body as smoke poured out of the car from an overheating laptop. 
 
 The 32-year-old was visiting the Paris area to attend a training course. 
 
 "Our thoughts and sorrow are with her relatives, her family, and her daughter now deprived of her presence." said Mr Cazeneuve. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption The suspect lived in student accommodation in Paris 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Police have sealed off his room as they continue their investigations 
 
 Hundreds of French citizens have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside militants, with many at home with links to recruitment cells. 
 
 "Terrorists are targeting France to divide us," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned on Wednesday. ||||| PARIS (AP) — An Islamic extremist with an arsenal of heavy weapons planned an imminent attack on one or more French churches, France's top security official said Wednesday, announcing the arrest of the man who is also accused in the death of a young mother. 
 
 The 24-year-old computer science student was flagged as a risk by security officials last year, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. 
 
 A French security official, who was not authorized to publicly release details of the arrest, said the suspect — an Algerian who had lived in France for several years — was arrested Sunday after he apparently shot himself by accident and called for an ambulance. Police who arrived at the scene found a blood trail leading to his car, with loaded guns and notes about potential targets inside. 
 
 In the man's apartment, in southeastern Paris, more weapons were found as well as evidence of ties to Islamic extremism, the official said. There was no immediate evidence that the suspect had direct ties to any organized groups, the official said. 
 
 Aurelie Chatelain, a 32-year-old Frenchwoman visiting Paris for a training session for her work, was found shot to death on Sunday morning in her car. The security official said she appeared to have been killed by the suspect at random. 
 
 France has been on edge since the Jan. 7-9 attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket left 20 people dead, including the three gunmen. ||||| Aurelie Chatelain, in this photograph provided by the Caudry City Hall April 22, 2015, is seen during a sporting event in Caudry on April 11, 2015. 
 
 Members of the media work as Paris prosecutor Francois Molins (R) and Christian Flaesch, director of the Paris' judiciary police, attend a news conference at the courthouse in Paris, April 22, 2015. 
 
 French President Francois Hollande (R) speaks with Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve (C) and Prime Minister Manuel Valls at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, April 22, 2015. 
 
 French soldiers patrol outside the Notre Dame Cathedral as part of the 'Vigipirate' security plan in Paris, April 22, 2015. 
 
 General view of the Emergency entrance to the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Paris April 22, 2015. 
 
 PARIS An Algerian man suspected of planning an imminent attack on a church has been arrested in Paris, with police discovering Kalashnikovs, hand guns and ammunition in his possession, top officials said on Wednesday. 
 
 The 24-year old electronics student, who is also suspected of the murder of a 32-year-old woman, was detained on Sunday after he apparently shot himself by accident and called an ambulance. He was not named. 
 
 France heightened surveillance of potential suspects and deployed troops to patrol sensitive sites after Islamist militants killed 17 people in January in attacks on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly and a Jewish food store. 
 
 Police found weapons and bullet-proof vests in the Algerian's car and at his home, as well as printed material on Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. 
 
 "Detailed documents that were found established beyond doubt that the individual was planning an imminent attack, probably on one or two churches," said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. 
 
 He said the man had previously come to the attention of the French authorities as possibly wanting to go to Syria. Police had made checks on him in 2014 and 2015 without finding anything that would warrant further investigation. 
 
 Paris chief prosecutor Francois Molins said a search of the man's phones and laptops "revealed that he was in touch with another person, who could be in Syria, with whom he was discussing ways to carry out an attack and who had specifically asked him to target a church." 
 
 Le Monde newspaper said police believe that the suspect had tried on Sunday to steal the car of the woman who was later found dead and shot himself by accident during the aborted robbery. Her blood was found on his jacket, Molins said. 
 
 Molins said the Algerian had made "farfetched" comments, claiming that he had become afraid of holding so many weapons and had injured himself when trying to throw them in the river Seine, which flows through Paris. 
 
 A person close to the suspect was held for questioning on Wednesday, Molins said, without giving further details. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Chine Labbe, Brian Love and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
– A terrorist attack on one or more churches in Paris may only have been thwarted because the suspect couldn't handle a gun, according to French authorities. The country's interior minister says a 24-year-old Algerian national was arrested on Sunday after he apparently shot himself and called for an ambulance, the BBC reports. Police say they followed a blood trail to a car containing attack plans and loaded guns, the AP reports. A search of the suspect's apartment found more weapons and evidence of links to Islamic extremism. The minister says the documents that police found leave no doubt that an attack was imminent, according to Reuters. The man is also a suspect in the murder of a 32-year-old woman who was found dead in her car on Sunday, the BBC reports.