LOC20:29
17:29 GMT
PARIS, Aug 22 (KUNA) -- Around one third of so-called French "radicals" who are being monitored for potential Islamist terrorist activity have mental health issues and several attacks have been carried out by such individuals who have known "psychological" problems, Interior Minister Gerard Colomb said on Tuesday.
Speaking on "BFM TV", Colomb noted recent actions by lone individuals, notably knife attacks in Central Paris and Orly Airport and car ramming attacks against pedestrians.
"We have to find the means so that a certain number of individuals, who in effect suffer from serious illnesses, cannot carry out attacks," Colomb said in the interview.
France has put in place a monitoring system for17,400 people that are vulnerable to or lean towards radicalisation, according to the Interior Ministry.
Colomb has recently said that there should be a mobilisation of psychiatric services to monitor those people with mental health issues, all the while respecting medical privacy.
This mobilisation is to try to identify profiles of people who are unwell and could be led to carry out terrorist attacks.
Several attacks by unstable individuals here have been classified as due to mental problems, although the so-called Islamic State terrorist group has tried to take credit for the attacks.
Colomb warned that mentally vulnerable or unwell people could be lured into terror acts or could simply seek to imitate others who have carried out such acts. (end)
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