Just a short drive from the opulence of Versailles Palace, a closed-off community of strictly conservative Muslims is posing the most visible challenge to French authorities hoping to stem the rise of homegrown extremists.
At first glance the town of Trappes, where urban renovation projects have replaced dozens of grim tower blocks, doesn't match the stereotype of poverty-stricken enclaves offering fertile ground to jihadist recruiters.
While never quite shaking off its rough reputation for drugs and violence, the town southwest of Paris has produced international football star Nicolas Anelka and popular French-Moroccan comedian Jamel Debbouze.
These days every butcher shop in the town-centre is halal and most women at the market wear headscarves, and increasing numbers of local Muslims adhere to Salafism, a Sunni branch which promotes a strictly conservative lifestyle.
While most French Salafists disdain violence in following the traditions of "pious ancestors", many of the jihadists who have struck France in the past three years have been associated with the movement.
And a security source told AFP that around 50 people from Trappes -- which has a population of 30,000 -- have gone to fight in Iraq or Syria. [AFP] Read more
