Francois Hollande: Muslims are main victims of extremism

Francois Hollande has said that Muslims suffer the most from fundamentalism, extremism and intolerance and should be protected, as the country grapples with the fallout from a string of extremist attacks.

The French president made his comments on Thursday in a speech at the Arab World Institute in Paris. "It is Muslims who are the main victims of fanaticism, fundamentalism and intolerance," he said.

He said France's millions of Muslims should be protected and respected, "just as they themselves should respect the nation" and its strictly secular values.

"Anti-Muslim acts, like anti-Semitism, should not just be denounced but severely punished," he added. "In the face of terrorism, we are all united."

The comments come more than a week after 12 people at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine were killed in an attack by Said and Cherif Kouachi, sponsored by al-Qaeda. Other attacks by a man inspired by the Islamic Stage group killed a police officer, and four Jews at a kosher restaurant.

Since then, there have been several attacks on Muslims in France. Many Muslims in the country have said they feared reprisals for the actions of the Kouachi brothers.

Coulibaly travelled to Madrid

Meanwhile, reports emerged on Thursday that the supermarket attacker, Ahmed Coulibaly, spent three days in Madrid before last week's Paris attacks. Spanish police are now investigating whether he had a support cell there.

Coulibaly was in Madrid between December 30 and January 2 with another person who has not yet been identified, Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguardia reported.

Spanish authorities are working with their French counterparts to investigate Coulibaly's activities in Spain to determine if there is a support cell in the country.

Spain has suffered its own attacks carried out by Islamic extremists, most notably the Madrid train bombings of 2004 in which 191 people were killed and thousands injured.