'France foiled seven terror attacks since start of 2017'

"Since the start of the year we've stopped seven plots which could have caused many deaths," Collomb told CNews television channel.

He said a plot had been thwarted in the southern city of Marseille in April, a week before presidential elections, and could have had "dreadful" consequences, he said.

However a policeman was shot dead on the Champs-Elysées in Paris by an Isis sympathizer just days before the first round of the presidential election on April 23rd.

There have also been other attempted attacks on police and soldiers at Notre-Dame cathedral, the Louvre gallery, Orly airport and again on the Champs-Elysées since the start of 2017.

The extension of the state of emergency was approved on Thursday by the lower house of parliament.

It has been in place since November 2015 after a string of multiple shootings and bombings, which murdered 130 people and injured hundreds of others.

The nightmarish day of terror started with a bombing outside the Stade de France stadium - it was the first of three explosions.

The terrorists then launched co-ordinated gun attacks at popular nightlife spots such as bars and restaurants in Paris.

Three gunmen also opened fire at Bataclan concert hall and murdered spectators watching rock band Eagles of Death Metal.

New President Emmanuel Macron on Monday vowed to end the state of emergency "this autumn" by introducing a new security law which includes many of the emergency measures.

France's League of Human Rights has also weighed in, rejecting the argument that the proposed bill would only affect suspected terrorists and saying the state of emergency has already been exploited by Hollande's government to curtail union activity.

Twelve human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on lawmakers on Wednesday to drop the state of emergency and reject the new law.

"These measures would trample individual and shared liberties and would lead us towards an authoritarian state," the League said in a statement on its website. "Far from relating only to terrorist acts, these measures would be applied to a wide range of offences. Anyone could become a victim of arbitrary decisions." Collomb said the law would enable the government to close down mosques where imams are deemed to be condoning terrorism. Closures could be ordered for six months at a time, on a rolling basis.

"Today there are three (mosques) that we want to close... since the start of the state of emergency we've closed 16," he said.

French counter-terror police regularly stage simulations of terror attacks for training exercises in order to prepare for all eventualities.

Last month they staged an operation that simulated an attack on a TGV train.