Paris ( CNN ) -- Nineteen people have been arrested in a series of police raids on suspected Islamists , French President Nicolas Sarkozy told French radio Friday morning . The raids come a week after gunman Mohammed Merah , who killed seven people , was shot dead after a long siege in the southwestern city of Toulouse . The arrests took place in Toulouse , Marseille , Nantes , Lyon and the Ile de France region , around Paris , the Interior Ministry said . Authorities have not said that any of those arrested were directly linked to Merah . Sarkozy told Europe 1 that the decision to act had been taken by the interior minister and foreign minister `` to deny the entry of certain people to France '' who did not share the country 's values . `` It 's not just linked to Toulouse . It 's all over the country . It 's in connection with a form of radical Islam , and it 's in agreement with the law , '' he said . `` What you have to understand is that the traumatic events in Montauban and Toulouse were profound in our country . I do n't want to compare horrors but it 's a bit like the form of trauma visible in the United States and New York after 9/11 . We have to be able to draw some conclusions . '' Interior Minister Claude Gueant said that several firearms , including five rifles , four automatic weapons and three Kalashnikovs , had been found in the searches , as well as a bulletproof vest . Speaking to French media , he said the raids targeted people who have made the claim online that they are `` mujahedeen , '' or Islamist fighters , and support `` an extremely radical ideology . '' The authorities ' decision to swoop was in part based on the suspects ' claims that they had received paramilitary training , Gueant said . Sarkozy suggested that more raids will follow , saying , `` There will be other operations that will continue and that will allow us to expel from our national territory a certain number of people who have no reason to be here . '' Sarkozy said he was obliged to act to ensure the nation 's safety . `` It 's our duty to guarantee the security of the French people . We have no choice . It 's absolutely indispensable . '' The Interior Ministry media office said `` the police had plans to carry out 19 arrests , and therefore 19 arrests were made in connection with the group Forsane Alizza . '' Forsane Alizza is a pro-al Qaeda group in France with a cluster of followers in Toulouse . Merah appeared to have developed connections with the group , according to French media reports . The group was outlawed in January for encouraging French citizens to travel to Afghanistan to fight jihad . Police have been investigating whether Merah acted alone in planning his attacks . He is blamed for the killings of three French paratroopers , a rabbi and three Jewish children ages 4 , 5 and 7 . Two other people were seriously wounded in the shootings . Merah told police he had attended an al Qaeda training camp while visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan , according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins . But his uncle , Jamal Azizi , denied statements by French authorities that Merah was an al Qaeda sympathizer and that he had traveled to Afghanistan or Pakistan to train to use arms . Merah was buried Thursday at a cemetery outside Toulouse . Algeria , where his family is originally from , had refused to accept his body , Merah 's father said , citing French authorities . CNN 's Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report .
NEW : The raids targeted people supporting radical ideology online , the interior minister says . Raids took place in Toulouse , Marseille , Nantes and Lyon and around Paris , officials say . The operation targets those connected with `` a form of radical Islam , '' Sarkozy says . The trauma of the Toulouse attacks for France was a bit like 9/11 for the U.S. , Sarkozy says .