French President Nicolas Sarkozy says police have detained 19 people in a crackdown on suspected Islamist extremists across the country.
Mr. Sarkozy says firearms were seized during Friday's raids in the city of Toulouse and other locations. Earlier reports said 20 people were detained.
The raids come in the wake of a series of killings around the Toulouse area by radical Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah. He was buried in the city Thursday, despite objections from the mayor and after a rejection from his family's native Algeria.
Merah was killed in a barrage of police gunfire, as he leaped from the balcony of his apartment last Thursday, following a 32-hour stand off.
Authorities say before he died Merah admitted to killing three children, three soldiers and a rabbi. Police say the gunman claimed links to al-Qaida and filmed his attacks.