http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1757920/posts?page=6#6
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"Al Qaeda seeks support for Islamic state in Iraq"
Daily Times ^ | Dec. 23, 2006 | Reuters
Posted on 12/23/2006 6:26:27 PM PST by FairOpinion
Channel tunnel is terror target
Jason Burke in Paris
Sunday December 24, 2006
The Observer
The Channel tunnel has been targeted by a group of Islamic militant terrorists aiming to cause maximum carnage during the holiday season, according to French and American secret services.
The plan, which the French DGSE foreign intelligence service became aware of earlier this year, is revealed in a secret report to the French government on threat levels. The report, dated December 19, indicates that the tip-off came from the American CIA. British and French intelligence agencies have run a series of checks of the security system protecting the 31-mile tunnel but the threat level, the DGSE warns, remains high. British security services remain on high alert throughout the holiday period.
According to the French sources, the plan was put together in Pakistan and is being directed from there. The plotters are believed to be Western Europeans, possibly Britons of Pakistani descent. The DGSE say that levels of 'chatter', the constant communication that takes place between militants, has not been so high since 2001. Last week Sir Ian Blair, the head of the Metropolitan Police, described 'the threat of another terrorist attempt' as 'ever present' adding that 'Christmas is a period when that might happen'.
'It is a far graver threat in terms of civilians than either the Cold War or the Second World War,' he said. 'It's a much graver threat than that posed by Irish Republican terrorism.'
American security sources told The Observer that the threat was 'sky high'.....
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1978642,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12