Saudis tell France about al-Qaida threat

PARIS, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabian intelligence officials have warned France of a terrorist threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said.

Hortefeux, in a Sunday radio interview, said he had received the terror warning just a few days ago.

He described it as "a new message from the Saudi services telling us that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was, without doubt, active or planned to be active" in Europe, "and France in particular."

"The threat is real and our vigilance is total," he added.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the terrorist network's branch based in Yemen is called, is gathering strength, observers say. The group has claimed responsibility for plots targeting Western interests, including a failed Christmas Day plan to blow up a passenger plane over Detroit, and is now locking in on European targets, it seems.

Last week, Hortefeux met with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in talks that surely centered on counter-terrorism efforts.

European intelligence and security officials have been vigilant for the past weeks after terror-related travel alerts were issued by the United States, Britain and Japan at the beginning of this month.

Media reports suggested that the travel alerts were based on intelligence gathered from Ahmed Sidiqi, a German of Afghan descent in custody of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The man from Hamburg had told U.S. interrogators about commando-style plans to attack high-profile landmarks in several cities in Europe.

The plans reportedly mimic the coordinated attacks by gunmen on several targets in Mumbai in late 2008. The terrorists stormed several public and private buildings, including the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, and killed 165 people.

German security officials played down the warnings, with German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere saying there was no concrete evidence for imminent attacks.

Yet a day after the U.S. alert was issued, an American military drone killed what officials said were several militants, some of them German nationals, at a hideout in Pakistan. The operation is linked to the alerts, observers say.

The latest warnings from Saudi Arabia have observers worried.

"If this information is coming indeed from the Saudis, one can expect that it is serious and reliable," Raphael Perl, the head of anti-terrorism for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told The New York Times.