French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that France had apprehended 293 people suspected of having links to terrorist organizations since the beginning of the year.

Speaking during a national security conference on Saturday, Cazeneuve said the state was doing its best to rid the country of terror threats. “But the terror threat remains,” he said.

France has been under a state of emergency and high terror alert since an attack by the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group last November killed 130 people across Paris.

In the latest development, three women were arrested after a foiled plot to blow up a car packed with gas canisters near the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris were charged with terror offences on Monday and remanded in custody, the prosecutor’s office said.

The women were detained last week after the discovery of the vehicle near Notre Dame on September 4. Police believe they were planning other attacks including striking a train station in the Paris area or targeting police.

There have been several terrorist attacks in France over the past few months. Most recently, a truck attack in Nice in July killed 85 people, including 10 children, and wounded more than 100 others.

Source: Websites