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France issues UK terror alert, Germany plays down threat

07 October 2010 04:21 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A French terrorism alert about Britain and attacks on Europeans in Yemen added to Western security concerns on Wednesday, but Germany sought to calm nerves, saying too much public talk of risks would stir fear, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Suspected al Qaeda militants attacked two Western targets in Yemen, firing a rocket at a senior British diplomat’s car and killing a Frenchman at a gas and oil installation.
France became the latest country to issue a security alert, telling citizens heading to Britain to exercise caution due to a very high risk of terrorist action there that could target public transport and tourist sites.
That followed a U.S. alert on Sunday warning American citizens to exercise caution if traveling in Europe. The same day, Britain raised the threat level to "high" from "general" for its citizens traveling to Germany and France.
But in Berlin, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he saw no indications of any imminent attack on Germany, even though the country remained in general a target.
Talking about possible attacks played into the hands of terrorists by fuelling public fears, he said.
"Public discussion is something terrorists use because they want to spread fear. We’re working but not talking a lot," de Maiziere told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Security sources say the trigger for the series of warnings was intelligence about a possible al Qaeda-related plot to launch assaults on European cities, modeled on the 2008 Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based gunmen that killed about 170 people.
"WORKING ALL OUT"
"I can only urge people to believe us when we say that all the security agencies are working all out and professionally," de Maiziere said, calling the danger to Germany "hypothetical."
"No one should doubt that Germany is a target for terrorists but on the other hand there are no concrete, immediate attack plans that we are aware of."
He said he could not confirm accounts from Pakistani intelligence officials that eight militants of German nationality had been killed by a suspected U.S. missile strike in northwest Pakistan on Monday.
"What astonishes me is that this attack reportedly happened the day before yesterday in an inaccessible area by unmanned drones and at the same time identity cards are found. That doesn’t fit together," de Maiziere said.
"I regard it as possible but not confirmed," he added.
In Yemen, a Frenchman was killed in a shooting incident inside the compound of Austrian-owned oil and gas group OMV, France’s Foreign Ministry said.
In Yemen, a Frenchman was killed in a shooting incident inside the compound of Austrian-owned oil and gas group OMV, France’s Foreign Ministry said.