France to deploy 10,000 troops on home soil in the wake of terror attacks
France will deploy 10,000 military troops on Tuesday to protect vulnerable locations across the country in the wake of last week’s terror attacks.
French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced the deployment, the largest ever on French soil, after a national security crisis meeting on Monday.
Le Drian was quoted in The Guardian saying the number of troops mobilised on French soil will almost equal the country’s forces overseas.
In addition to the troops, 5,000 police officers have been posted to guard Jewish schools, synagogues and mosques.
Authorities are also searching for Hayat Boumedienne, 26, who they believe was an accomplice to the attacks and may have crossed the border into Syria.
Boumedienne’s husband, Amedy Coulibaly, 32, was killed when police raided a market where he was holding hostages.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the search is urgent because “the threat is still present” after the attacks that left 17 people dead — journalists at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, hostages at a kosher market and three police officers — plus the three attackers, who were killed Friday in nearly simultaneous raids by security forces.
