Police Foil 'Imminent' Attack on Paris Churches, Make Arrest of Terror Suspect with Arsenal of Weapons

French authorities announced that it had thwarted an "imminent" terrorist attack in Paris, specifically targeting "one or two churches," following the arrest of a suspected Islamic extremist.

The suspect, a 24-year-old IT university student, appeared to have shot himself in the leg when he was taken into police custody on Sunday after authorities found an arsenal of weapons in his car and residence.

The weapons included four "Kalashnikov-style" automatic weapons, bullet-proof vests, several police armbands and the detailed plans of several Parisian police stations.

"(He) let them believe that he was the victim," French President Francois Hollande said. "But police understood that there was an investigation that needed to be initiated."

"A terrorist attack was foiled on Sunday morning," French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Wednesday. "The police discovered an arsenal of weapons of war. A document was also found showing without any doubt that the individual was planning to imminently carry out an attack."

Specifically, Cazeneuve said the suspect, later identified as Sid Ahmed Ghlam, appeared to be targeting "one or two churches in Paris."

Police said they were alerted on Sunday morning when a man called the ambulance service. The police found Ghlam bleeding heavily from a bullet in the leg on a street in Paris.

Ghlam told the police a confusing story on how he came to be shot. After following a trail of blood to a vehicle parked nearby, the police found a stash of weapons. The suspect admitted that he was the owner of the car.

The police then checked his student room and found more weapons, maps and other suspicious material.

The suspect admitted he was planning an attack on "one or two churches" in Villejuif, a suburb of Paris, the same day, Cazeneuve told journalists.

The authorities learned that the suspect had received orders from "someone in Syria."

"A terrorist attack has been foiled," Hollande said. "It's not the first time."

"France, like other countries, is facing a terror threat that is unprecedented in its nature and magnitude," said Prime Minister Manuel Valls. "Terrorists are targeting France to divide us."

Ghlam was a computer science student originally from Algeria, living in that North African country until 2001. He lived with his parents in France for the next couple of years and returned to Algeria. After obtaining his undergraduate degree there, he went back to France to study electronics.

Ghlam's police record is clean of any conviction. The only accusation against him in August 2013 was later withdrawn.

Although his alleged plan to attack churches in Paris, which is home to the Notre Dame cathedral and Sacre Coeur basilica, was foiled, Ghlam was linked to the death of a 32-year-old woman, identified as Aurelie Chatelain.

Chatelain was found lifeless on Sunday morning, sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car in Villejuif. The mother of a five-year-old girl who came to Paris on Saturday to attend class was killed by a bullet that hit her shoulder.

Her connection to Ghlam, if any, has yet to be uncovered by authorities, but ballistics, DNA, satellite navigation and other evidence linked Chatelain to the terrorist suspect.

Chatelain was tagged as Paris' first terror victim since January this year when Islamist militants attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher market in Paris, killing at least 16 innocent lives.