UK: Plot to attack European cities foiled: report

Earlier on Tuesday,  the Eiffel Tower and the surrounding Champ de Mars park were briefly evacuated because of a bomb alert, the fourth such alert in the Paris region in as many weeks.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Express Reuters | September 29, 2010

Intelligence agencies have claimed they have intercepted a terror plot to launch Mumbai-style attacks on London and other European cities according to a report in Sky News.

The foreign affairs editor of Sky News, Tim Marshall has alleged that militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes on London and other major British cities. He said the group was also planning similar attacks in France and Germany.

Asked about the Sky News report, US security officials said they could not confirm that a plot had been disrupted. But they said they believed that the threat of a plot or plots was continuing. US counter-terrorism agencies are poring over intelligence reports suggesting a major attack plot is currently in the works against unspecified targets in Western Europe or possibly the United States, they said.


Four US security officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that initial intelligence reports about the threat first surfaced roughly two weeks ago, around the time of the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Sky News’ Marshall said an increase in drone attacks in Pakistan in the past few weeks was linked to attempts by Western powers to disrupt the plot, which was at an “advanced but not imminent stage.”

British security sources declined to comment on the Sky News report. Britain in January raised its international terrorism threat level to “severe” — the second highest level of alert in the five-tier system.

The head of Britain’s MI5 Security Service, Jonathan Evans, said on Sept 16 there remained “a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place.”

Earlier on Tuesday,  the Eiffel Tower and the surrounding Champ de Mars park were briefly evacuated because of a bomb alert, the fourth such alert in the Paris region in as many weeks, but a search turned up nothing, police said.



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