In the wake of a number of terror attacks, security has been intensified in Lourdes in southwestern France as thousands of pilgrims prepare to gather there to pray at one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the world.
More than 250 police and paramilitary officers have been mobilized as well as soldiers and specialist security police to patrol the town, which is in the Pyrenees region near the Spanish border.
Lourdes has been famous since 1858, when a young peasant girl claimed to see visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The waters of Lourdes have been credited with numerous miraculous cures.
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