Notre Dame terror suspects arrested after shootout with cops in France

Paris police arrested three women after a shootout Thursday night in northern France in connection with a car found laden with gas canisters in a busy tourist neighborhood in Paris earlier this week.

The women were armed with knives and one was hurt when police opened fire. An officer suffered what was described as a "non life-threatening" wound in the shoulder.

Three women were arrested during an operation by the Director General of Domestic Security in Essone, in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, in Northern France. The three arrested were 39, 23, and 19. The women were presented by authorities as "radicalized, fanatical, [who] were likely preparing new violent actions imminently."

Bernard Cazeneuve, the Interior Minister, said that those arrested were "implicated in the discovery, Sunday night in Paris, of the car filled with gas canisters."

According to a report on RTL, the women wanted to light the car on fire, before giving up. They then reportedly planned other actions against train stations.

The minister later said that the individuals were "recruited, indoctrinated by terrorists in Syria and Iraq … to coordinate and to commit acts on our soil."

Several arrests were made since the discovery of the car on Sunday, and four were taken into custody before Thursday's arrests.

Overnight on Saturday, a Peugeot 607 car was parked several metres from the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris. The vehicle had no license plates and it's hazard lights were on.

A bar employee reported the car to police after seeing a gas canister on a seat in the car. The police later found more canisters in the trunk, full. There was no ignition device found.

The chief prosecutor for Paris is in charge of the investigation, which is still seeking to establish the motivation of the group, the purpose of the car found in Paris, and whether there were ties to others or if someone was directing the operation.