AP
Sunday, December 24, 2006

Islamic militants want to attack the Channel Tunnel between England and France during the holiday season, a British newspaper said Sunday, citing French and U.S. security sources.

The Observer said the French foreign intelligence service, DGSE, warned the French government of the threat in a Dec. 19 report after a tip-off from the CIA.

The newspaper cited unidentified French officials as saying the plot was being directed from Pakistan and involved militants in western Europe, possibly Britons of Pakistani descent.

It said U.S. officials, also quoted anonymously, described the threat as "sky high" for the tunnel, which carries millions of Eurostar rail passengers under the English Channel each year.

French Defense Ministry officials declined to comment on the report.

The newspaper also said that militants with links to al-Qaida were plotting a wave of attacks on an unidentified European country, with the plot planned and run from Syria and Iraq. It said the threat was greatest between this past September and April.

British officials warned Friday that there is a high threat of an attempted terrorist attack over the Christmas and New Year period, although they said they had no intelligence of any specific plots.

"The threat of another terrorist attempt is ever present," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said Friday in London.

"Christmas is a period when that might happen," he said, but added: "We have no specific intelligence to do (with) that."