Monday October 8, 09:10 PM

Four probed over plot against France-Algeria game

PARIS (Reuters) - An antiterrorist magistrate will quiz four alleged Islamic militants who police suspect plotted to attack an historic France-Algeria football match, a French judicial source has said.

Police intercepted telephone conversations between the four that hinted they would target the game, which was abandoned after Algerian fans stormed the pitch and hurled objects, the source said.

Saturday's friendly was the first soccer match between France and Algeria since the North African country claimed independence from France in 1962.

They arrested the men the night before the match after seizing a manual for making explosives, ammunition, bullet-proof vests and a revolver disguised as a pen, from the suspects' houses in the Paris suburbs, the source added.

The men are being probed for criminal conspiracy in relation to a terrorist initiative, and a magistrate will decide on Tuesday if they should be put under official investigation -- one step short of pressing charges under French law.

One of the suspects, Nassredine Mamache, went on trial last month on terrorism charges with 23 others accused of supplying arms to the radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

The testimony of one of the accused linked the group to Osama bin Laden, Washington's chief suspect for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Prosecutors said Mamache was a member of Takfir-wal-Hijra, an extremist Islamic group that originated in Egypt.

-- Anonymous, October 08, 2001