Saudis warn France of new terror threats
France says that Saudi Arabia has warned French authorities of a terror plot, hatched by al Qaeda elements in the Arabian peninsula, directed specifically at France; France is already on heightened terror alerts following terror threats last month; speculation on the source of those terror threats centered on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, another al Qaeda offshoot, which took five French citizens hostage in Niger in September
French security steps up patrols // Source: american.com
Saudi intelligence services have warned of a new terror threat from al Qaeda in Europe, “notably France,” French interior minister Brice Hortefeux said Sunday.
He said the warning of a potential attack by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was received “in the last few hours, few days.”
Europeans were informed that “al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was doubtless active or envisioned being active” on the “European continent, notably France,” Hortefeux said during a joint TV and radio interview. “The threat is real,” he said on RTL-LCI-Le Figaro’s weekly talk show.
Fox News reports that the word of a potential attack by Islamist radicals is the latest in a series of warnings after alerts from the international police organization Interpol and the United States.
The U.S. State Department advised American citizens living or traveling in Europe earlier this month to take more precautions following reports that terrorists may be plotting attacks on a European city, possibly a shooting spree or other type of attack similar to the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks in India.
France had already boosted security at busy tourist sites like Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, which was twice evacuated after false claims of an attack. French authorities recorded nine bomb alerts in the capital in September, including the two at the Eiffel Tower — a threefold increase from a year earlier. No explosives were found.
Speculation on the source of a potential terror threat centered on al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, another al Qaeda offshoot, which took five French citizens hostage in Niger in September.
