Elite and anti-terror police units descended on around a dozen targets, mostly in the southern region of Toulouse, but also around Paris and in the northern region of Normandy, a police source said.

France, which has Europe’s largest Muslim population, faces the fact that hundreds of its citizens have openly joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria and have even called for attacks on their homeland.

The new reality was driven home in a video from Islamic State released last month, showing three Kalashnikov-wielding Frenchmen burning their passports and calling on Muslims to join them or stage attacks in France.

An execution video released around the same time featured at least one French citizen who hailed from a village in Normandy and converted to Islam in his teens.

Almost 1000 French nationals from a wide range of backgrounds are estimated to have joined jihadists in Iraq and Syria, including about 400 thought to be fighting and almost 50 who thought to have been killed.

According to figures published in Le Monde last month, about a quarter of those who left to join the jihadists were converts to Islam. Many of them came from everyday French backgrounds.

AFP