French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has urged the government to denounce as "Islamists" the perpetrators of deadly Paris attacks that left the country reeling.
The three-day killing spree that left 17 dead in and around Paris - starting when gunmen stormed the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on January 7 - have left the world reeling, with questions raised about how the perpetrators slipped through the cracks.
"Let us call things by their rightful names, since the French government seems reluctant to do so," Le Pen wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.
"France, land of human rights and freedoms, was attacked on its own soil by a totalitarian ideology: Islamic fundamentalism.
"Muslims themselves need to hear this message. They need the distinction between Islamist terrorism and their faith to be made clearly."
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Le Pen called for national border checks, more immigration restrictions, stripping "jihadists" of their French citizenship, as well as "zero tolerance for any behaviour that undermines laicite (secularism) and French law."
"Islamist terrorism is a cancer on Islam, and Muslims themselves must fight it at our side," Le Pen added.
Her statements are in contrast to those made by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who has stated that France is at war with radical Islam, not with the Muslim faith or any religion.
In the wake of the French attacks and last week's Belgian anti-terror raids, EU foreign ministers are to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss ways to boost cooperation to combat the threat posed by radicalised Europeans returning home after fighting in Iraq and Syria.
