Al-Qaeda terror plot targeting Europe uncovered

 

An al-Qaeda plot to carry out co-ordinated attacks in the UK, France and Germany has been uncovered, Western intelligence sources say.

Small teams of militants were to seize and kill hostages, similar to the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, the sources said.

Recent US drone raids in Pakistan reportedly targeted the al-Qaeda militants who inspired the plans.

UK officials say the plot has not been stopped, but an attack is not expected to be carried out imminently.

A senior administration official said US President Barack Obama had held "multiple sessions with his CT [counter-terrorism] and homeland teams in recent weeks to review this and other threat reporting and to make sure that all appropriate steps were being taken to protect the American people".

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the plot is believed to have moved from the aspirational stage to actual planning.

Western security agencies may have been hoping to keep the matter out of the public realm for longer so criminal evidence could be gathered, our correspondent adds, but initial details were leaked to the US media.

BBC