European rail network Egypt court orders Mubarak's release now on Qaeda hit-list
The extremist group could plant explosives on trains and tunnels or sabotage tracks and electrical cabling, according to NSA intelligence
Al-Qaeda is plotting attacks on Europe’s highspeed rail network, a German newspaper reported today, citing intelligence sources.
The extremist group could plant explosives on trains and tunnels or sabotage tracks and electrical cabling, said Bild, Europe’s most widely read daily. While Germany said its threat level had not changed and Austria said no additional security measures had been taken, a Czech rail official said authorities there had implemented new, unspecified security measures. Bild said the information came from the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, which had listened in to a conference call involving top Al-Qaeda operatives.
The attacks on Europe’s rail network were a “central topic” of this call, Bild said.
German authorities had responded to the threat with discreet measures such as deploying plainclothed police officers at key stations and on main routes, according to the daily.
According to US media reports, intelligence services
Sana'a intercepted a conference call earlier this month between Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and more than 20 operatives from across the group’s global network.
This prompted the US and several allies to shut embassies across the Muslim world, fearful of a major attack.
On August 1, the US is- sued a worldwide alert, warning of Al-Qaeda plans to launch an attack in the Middle East or North Africa.
Germany’s interior ministry said today that “the security situation has not changed,” national news agency DPA reported.
The ministry said that while security warnings were received from time to time, it would not comment on these, adding that generally speaking Germany was among the potential targets of inter national jihadist organisations.
The Austrian interior ministry meanwhile said there were “no grounds for concer n”. While authorities were in contact with their counterparts in neighbouring countries, no special security measures had been taken for trains or stations.
The Czech railway however said it had beefed up security after the Bild report. “We took some preventive measures to not be caught by surprise,” said Jakub Ptacinsky, spokesman for the SZDC company in charge of Czech railway infrastructure. “One must underestimate nothing,” he told AFP, while refusing to specify the kinds of measures for “tactical reasons”. - AFP
Ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak could be freed this week after a court on Monday ordered his release, pending a probe into a graft case, a development that could further inflame passions in the conflict-ridden and deeply polarised Arab nation, reports PTI.
Eighty five-year-old Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal are charged with squandering 1.1 billion Egyptian pounds in public funds for renovation of their own private residences instead of official presidential palaces.
Judicial officials said there were no longer any grounds to hold Mubarak because of the expiration of a two-year legal limit for holding an individual in custody pending a final verdict.The criminal court in Cairo ordered that Mubarak's sons would stay in custody, unlike their father.