French soldiers patrol at the Eiffel Tower, in Paris. AP (File Photo)

PARIS: French police detained seven suspected Islamic militants on Tuesday in a raid linked to an investigation into militant networks in Pakistan, a source close to the inquiry said.

The seven suspects were arrested in central Paris and in the northern suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis, the source said. One was intercepted as he got off a flight that landed at Paris's Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport from Algeria.

France's BFM television said the suspects were being questioned over possible links to two French nationals arrested earlier this year in Abbottabad, the Pakistani town where US forces located and killed Osama bin Laden last week.

Police are on alert across Europe for retaliation attacks following bin Laden's killing, but French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said on Monday there was no evidence so far of there being a higher terrorism risk in France.