PARIS — Saudi intelligence services have warned of a new terror threat from al-Qaida in Europe, “notably France,” Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Sunday.
He said the warning of a potential attack by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was received “in the last few hours, few days.”
Europeans were informed that “al-Qaida 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.
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-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, another al-Qaida offshoot, which took five French citizens hostage in Niger in September.
4 Replies to “French minister: Saudis warn of new terror threat”
If things get too severe and the police can’t handle the situation, declare martial law and bring out the Legion. The security of the state and the safety of all of it’s citizens come first. This is the primary duty of government.
What the Sowdies helping with intelligence. Is this a first?
Not by a long shot. The Saudis in fact were releasing terrorists from jails and SEDING them to Iraq to get killed by US forces. The Americans eventually asked them to stop doing that but the Saudis want Al Queda and so on dead much more than we, and are a more imminent threat to the Saudi royals as terrorists than to any of us.
Yes I know the other side, the relationship is very complex. Saudi royal blackmail money pays for all of our woes. But the Saudis are actually an ally just in a rather novel way.
Big Frank you are right about the Legion, that is the only French ground force I would want on my flank, the French soldiers are some of the bravest men that ever lived, and given what a lot of their officers are like they need to be. Personally I think there is going to be a multi-sided civil war in all of the European nations, and I am old enough to have to say that I include Britain in that group.
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If things get too severe and the police can’t handle the situation, declare martial law and bring out the Legion. The security of the state and the safety of all of it’s citizens come first. This is the primary duty of government.
What the Sowdies helping with intelligence. Is this a first?
Not by a long shot. The Saudis in fact were releasing terrorists from jails and SEDING them to Iraq to get killed by US forces. The Americans eventually asked them to stop doing that but the Saudis want Al Queda and so on dead much more than we, and are a more imminent threat to the Saudi royals as terrorists than to any of us.
Yes I know the other side, the relationship is very complex. Saudi royal blackmail money pays for all of our woes. But the Saudis are actually an ally just in a rather novel way.
Big Frank you are right about the Legion, that is the only French ground force I would want on my flank, the French soldiers are some of the bravest men that ever lived, and given what a lot of their officers are like they need to be. Personally I think there is going to be a multi-sided civil war in all of the European nations, and I am old enough to have to say that I include Britain in that group.