French anti-terrorist police Tuesday arrested at least five people in the southeastern town of Lunel for alleged involvement in a network that recruits jihadis to fight in Syria.

According to the website of the local Midi Libre newspaper, the security operation started before dawn with the sealing off of several neighbourhoods in Lunel.

Around 20 young men from the town have travelled to Syria in recent months to fight in the jihadi ranks, six of whom have died there since October.

French authorities have put 1,300 people under observation for their alleged links with jihadi networks in Syria and Iraq, a 130 percent increase over the past year.