Poland to send troops to Paris Olympics amid security challenge

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland said on Thursday it will join international efforts to help keep the Olympic Games in France safe by sending troops, including sniffer dog handlers, as organizers prepare for the major security challenge.

The French government raised the country's terror alert warning to its highest level on Sunday, following the shootings in Moscow, just a few months before the games kick off on July 26.

"The Polish Armed Forces will join the international coalition established by France to support the preparations and security of the 2024 Summer Olympics," Poland's defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on social media platform X.

"A task force of our soldiers, including dog handlers, will be sent to Paris. Its main goal will be to undertake activities related to the detection of explosives and counteracting terrorist phenomena."

The announcement was made on the day France's chief of defence staff Thierry Burkhard visited Warsaw.

A Polish military spokesperson said details of the arrangement were still being worked out and would be provided at a later date.

In mid-March Paris authorities strengthened the police presence in the northern suburb of La Courneuve near the Paris 2024 Olympics Village after an attack on a police station in the suburb.

(Reporting by Karol Badohal; editing by Costas Pitas)