French Prime Minister Valls warns Europe of major terrorist attacks

MUNICH, Saturday

More major attacks in Europe are a certainty, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told an audience at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

“We have entered — we all feel it — in a new era characterised by the lasting presence of hyper-terrorism,” said Valls, whose country was hit by two Islamist attacks last year. More than 140 people died in the Paris attacks.

“We must be fully conscious of the threat and react with a very great force and great lucidity. There will be attacks. Large-scale attacks. It’s a certainty. This hyper-terrorism is here to stay.”

The Prime Minister was speaking at the three-day security conference in the southern German city of Munich.

He spoke alongside Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

“The force of the ideological fascination is formidable, and if we have changed, era it is because this hyper-terrorism is in the heart of our societies,” Valls added.

Islamic State jihadists wrought havoc on the streets of Paris on the night of November 13, killing 130 in a series of attacks on several bars, a football stadium and the Bataclan concert hall.

That came after 12 people were killed in a January attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical news weekly offices.

The magazine had been in the jihadists’ sights since publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006.