Counter-terrorism operations have been launched across France in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, with Prime Minister Manuel Valls declaring the country has collapsed into "apartheid".

A total of 64 suburbs in many major cities have been identified as ghettos and Mr Valls' admission that geographic, social and ethnic apartheid exists in France signals a seismic change in the country's approach to immigration

It also highlights the scale of the problem.

France has not been able to concede that significant proportions of its population were being left behind economically, marginalised into ethnic enclaves, leaderless and vulnerable to Islamist radicalisation.

Because until now French political thought refused to recognise the notion of the nation having different communities within it. But the 64 ghettos identified in dozens of cities share startling statistical characteristics.

Unemployment is at 23% in the suburban areas. Among the young that figure soars to 45%.

The average income is €11,000 a year. Between a third and half of all families are single-parent and about half are made up of immigrants or their children.

Meanwhile, the French interior ministry has designated around 15 priority security zones across the country, which have been seen to be hotbeds of crime and potential hot houses of jihadism.

These zones have been reinforced by extra intelligence and uniformed officers, as well as quick-reaction units which set up road blocks and random checks to look for drugs and weapons.

"There is a very blurred and small gap between organised crime and terrorism," said colonel Gael Marchand, head of the Gendarmerie for the Alpes-Maritime region.

"Terrorists need funding and they are often recruited in prisons. If you're a terrorist and a former criminal you know where and how to get weapons."

He said guns were easily obtained via smuggling routes through Italy from eastern Europe.

Cyber warfare

France has launched an internet campaign attacking Islamic State's online recruitment drive and warning potential jihadis they will die a "lonely death far from home".

But the colonel said the majority of the most effective indoctrination was conducted by individual preachers who were able to speak directly to potential recruits beyond the scrutiny of members of mosques and prayer rooms.

Anne Mamadou lost his son to jihad. He was radicalised by Omar Omsen, a notorious Muslim convert, originally from Senegal, who settled in Nice and took "dozens" of volunteers with him when he went to fight in Syria.

"It's been very hard to get hold of him," he said.

"The last I heard is that he was fighting somewhere near Kobani in the north. He was brought up a Muslim in the correct way. He got a good education and then he suddenly disappeared - just after getting married and having his first baby."

"He's probably too proud to come back and say: 'Daddy, I made a mistake'."

Bekri Boubekeur is an Imam and member of the local Muslim council who was part of a group that built and funded the first mosque in the region, which sits across the road from a drug den in L'Ariane, a ghetto on the outskirts of Nice.

He said young people who signed up for Jihad were "committing slow suicide". "They probably don't know they're doing it at the time, but they are," he said.