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Newsmax:
France Holds 11 as Europe Faces Terror AlertTuesday, 05 Oct 2010
PARIS - Anti-terrorist police arrested 11 suspected Islamic militants on Tuesday in swoops in and around Marseille and in Bordeaux after Western governments issued warnings about an elevated terrorism risk in Europe.
France is on high alert after seven hostages, including five French citizens, were kidnapped by the North African wing of al Qaeda last month, and approval by the Senate of a bill to ban full-face veils. The hostages are still being held.
The U.S. State Department on Sunday issued a warning to Americans to exercise caution while in Europe. Also on Sunday, Britain raised its terrorism threat level to high from general for those travelling to Germany and France. [ID:nLDE6920E7]
"On such a sensitive, difficult issue, the French government is naturally working hand in hand with our partners, our allies and even further afield," Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told France's National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after the raids had taken place.
In one operation focused on a network supplying false papers for jihadists returning from Afghanistan, police arrested two men in the Mediterranean port of Marseille and a third in the city of Bordeaux in southwest France, the sources said.
The three were linked to a man arrested in the Italian city of Naples and suspected of being connected to al Qaeda militants, they said.
In another operation, eight people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in arms and explosives trafficking, they said. Those arrests took place in a region around Marseille.
In early September, Italian anti-terrorist police arrested a Frenchman suspected of belonging to al Qaeda and capable of securing explosives, Italian sources said on Sunday.
Hortefeux said he had spoken among others to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano as recently as Monday night and would take stock of the situation again on Thursday with European Union counterparts meeting in Luxembourg.
"Yes there is a terrorist threat at the moment in Europe. It must be neither overestimated nor underestimated," he said.
"Just this morning, police operations were launched in Marseille and Bordeaux which led to arrests directly linked to the anti-terrorist campaign."
SUSPECTED AL QAEDA CONNECTION
French authorities said last month they had received a tip-off that a suicide bomber was preparing an attack on the Paris metro system and Western intelligence sources said they had uncovered plans for a coordinated attack on European cities.
France's threat level remains at red, the second-highest level. Hortefeux told reporters late on Sunday: "We shouldn't be in denial."
The kidnapping in Niger last month of seven employees of French companies Areva and Vinci , including five French citizens, by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, highlighted tensions in the region.
Mali's president last week called for regional cooperation to fight AQIM, but said support from France, the region's main former colonial power, should remain material.
France, where the five-million-strong Muslim community is Europe's largest, last month cleared a final legislative hurdle to becoming the first European country to ban a full-scale veil which an estimated 2,000 Muslim women actually wear, when the Senate approved the ban. The ban on the head-to-toe garment that leaves only the eyes uncovered still has to be vetted by the Constitutional Council, France's highest constitutional authority.
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BBC: 'Bin Laden' in warning to France after kidnap in Niger Osama Bin Laden has reportedly tied the kidnapping of five French people in Niger to France's treatment of its Muslim minority. An audio message said to have been recorded by the...
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French Minister: Saudis Warn Of New Terror Threat From Al-qaeda To Europe
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More On The Terror Threat To Europe
It's not just Debka warning about it. h/t Jawa The Moderate Voice: Terrorism: Should Europe and the US Go to Red Alert? Posted by JOERG WOLF in International, Media, War. Sep 24th, 2010 Counterterrorism officials in France, Germany, Britain, and...
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Newsmax: France Raises Terror Security, New Threat Reported Monday, 20 Sep 2010 PARIS (AP) — France has stepped up its vigilance against terror threats, a top official announced Monday amid reports of various new threats, including one against the Paris...
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