Police in France have arrested three women for planning to attack the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris, Reuters reported on Friday. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the women, aged 39, 23 and 19, “were in all likelihood preparing an imminent, violent act”. A total of seven people have now been detained in connection with the planned attack. Police began their investigations after a car loaded with six full gas cylinders was found near the Notre Dame cathedral on August 27.

Police officials said the youngest woman was shot and wounded after she stabbed an officer during the arrests some 30-kilometres south-east of the French capital. An interior ministry official further said that the 19-year-old, already suspected by police, had written a letter pledging her allegiance to the Islamic State group. Police had earlier arrested her father, but later released him. “An alert has been issued to all stations,” the official added.

The European Union member has ramped up its investigations and anti-militant operations following major militant attacks on its soil, including a bus attack in the town of Nice in July, which killed 84 people. In November 2015, Islamic State militants killed more than 130 people in Paris. The group has called on its supporters to conduct attacks in France as it is among those countries bombing its strongholds in parts of West Asia.