More drones spotted flying over Paris

LONDON — More drones were seen flying over Paris overnight, French media reported Wednesday.

Police received 12 reports of the machines late Tuesday and early Wednesday, according to French newspaper Le Monde. It follows reported sightings near the Place de la Concorde, the Eiffel Tower and near the U.S. Embassy on two subsequent nights last week.

Police are working to figure out who has been operating the drones, which were first seen late last year.

Le Monde said the drones were spotted near the old Paris gates of Bagnolet, Charenton and Vincennes, and near the Eiffel Tower, while Le Parisien reported a drone was spotted near the Palace of Versailles.

Flying the machines without a license in France is illegal and carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a $85,000 fine, according to the Associated Press.

"We need to be very vigilant on this, we're going to have to be extremely careful," government spokesman Stephane Le Foll told France Info radio, Reuters reported. "The day that we find the people who are doing this, there will be penalties. ... We will find them, sooner or later."

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 60 drones had been spotted over nuclear power plants and Paris since Oct. 5.

Last week, three journalists from broadcaster Al-Jazeera were detained and released after being found with a drone. The broadcaster said they were filming a report about the mystery drones that were seen in the city.

On Tuesday, a Paris court fined Al-Jazeera journalist Tristan Redman $1,120 for flying a drone without authorization over the French capital, the Associated Press reported. There is no known link between the journalists' arrests and the other drones.

Many Parisians remain uneasy after deadly terrorist attacks in January left 17 dead, including 12 at the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Thousands of extra security personnel have been deployed throughout the nation as the government tightens measures against extremism and hate speech and looks to thwart French residents who seek to fight with radicals in Syria.

French authorities also announced Wednesday they have identified three suspects in a deadly terror attack at a deli in Paris' old Jewish quarter more than 30 years ago that killed six people, including two Americans.

Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office, said international arrest warrants have been issued for the three suspects — now in their late 50s and early 60s — who were believed to be members of the Abu Nidal group involved in the 1982 attack, according to the Associated Press.

Thibault-Lecuivre said the suspects are believed to be in the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Norway but declined to name them, citing protocol.