France to inspect close to 80 mosques for extremist links

The French government will launch a "massive and unprecedented" wave of measures to combat religious extremism, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday, adding that one step would be to inspect 76 mosques. Darmanin said in a statement on Twitter that some of the mosques could be closed as a result.

President Emmanuel Macron's government has responded to several deadly Islamist attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what some public officials have called "the enemy within."