Iraq's French Connection?

At least 11 alleged Islamist radicals were being held by Police after a series of sweeps around Paris that authorities claim reveal new links to al-Qaeda's terror master in Iraq, Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi. "These people were in direct contact with a Zarqawi group intermediary," claims a French counterterrorism official.

Though unable to reveal the specifics of those communications without endangering ongoing investigations, the official called the direct links to al-Zarqawi's group "a new twist we regard as extremely troubling." Police said some of those arrested had launched a spree of armed robberies to finance the network's underground work; a raid of the group's suspected arms cache turned up explosives, a dozen detonators, pistols and assault rifles.

"We hadn't seen Islamists using such brazen crime to finance the cause since the mid-1990s," the counterterrorism official says. "This return to early methods may mean this group wanted to move ahead far faster with an attack than we normally see now."