France prepares for new terror threats amid Mali fight

Jan. 11, 2013: France's President Francois Hollande delivers a speech on the situation in Mali at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP)

PARIS – France's top security official says the country is ready to prevent new terror attacks after its military operation to push back Al Qaeda-linked insurgents grabbing territory in Mali.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday that France is well aware of the dangers of terror attacks both inside and outside France, but believed the threat posed by the advance of the militant Islamist fighters was far greater.

Declaring France had "opened the gates of hell" with its assault, the rebels from the Sahel desert region that includes Mali threatened retribution on Monday.

"France is watching individuals who want to go to Afghanistan, Syria and the Sahel. We're watching those who could return here," Valls told the French television network BFM. "We're facing an exterior enemy and an interior enemy."