The terror threat hanging over Europe is very real and may be a sign that al-Qaeda wants to mount a symbolic strike, the EU's counter-terrorism chief said Wednesday as France announced that a group of 25 Islamist extremists is planning to return to Europe after combat training in the Afghan-Pakistani border regions.
"It is real. I think that public officials would not terrify the population without anything to back it up," said European Union counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove.
"It is in the context of a general threat that has not diminished in recent times," de Kerchove told the official EU television channel.
The French warning of militants returning to Europe came at a time of high alert for possible attacks in European countries following warnings by several countries.
"A group of 25 young people trained in combat" after travelling from their homes in Europe to the region, considered a hotbed of violent extremism, plan to head back again possibly via Turkey, one intelligence source told AFP.
The source said U.S. intelligence services alerted their counterparts in Europe to the group’s activities "a few weeks" ago and the warning was reiterated by British authorities.
One French official said the group of 25 has experience of fighting in the lawless border region where US-led forces are trying to root out leaders of the al-Qaeda network, and could be able to organize other extremists in Europe.
Alert warnings
This week the United States, Britain, Japan and Sweden issued alert warnings of a "possible terrorist attack" by al-Qaeda and affiliated groups against their citizens travelling in Europe.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said there was "no need to be alarmist" and cautioned that such alerts can help "terrorists" spread fear.
"We are taking things seriously. But public accompanying music (the warnings) is also something that terrorists use, because they want to spread fear," he told radio station Deutschlandfunk.
De Kerchove said the threat of terrorism has never gone away despite an absence of attacks in recent years.
"It is the confirmation of what I have been saying for some time, which is that you cannot conclude from the absence of attacks that there is no threat," de Kerchove said.
"We know that there is still the intention, notably from al-Qaeda, to commit wide-scale attacks," he said.
A symbolic attack
A drone aircraft bombing campaign and strikes by U.S. Special Forces against al-Qaeda hideouts in the Afghan-Pakistani border region have put the network’s back against the wall, de Kerchove said.
"They’ve been seriously hurt, and maybe that’s the reason why they are seeking to mount something symbolic in order to regain a bit their image," he said.
Europe faces threats from Al-Qaeda’s core organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as the group’s franchises in the Arabian peninsula and north Africa, de Kerchove said.
But it also faces serious threats from holders of EU national passports eager to join the jihad, or a homegrown "lone wolf" inspired to mount attacks on his own, he said.
French police on Tuesday arrested 12 people and seized guns in a series of anti-terror raids.
The Europe terror alerts followed U.S. and British media reports that an al-Qaeda plot to carry out attacks in Britain, France and Germany, similar to those in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, had been uncovered.
The source was a German citizen of Afghan descent being held in Afghanistan, the reports said, but a U.S. official told AFP this week that the warning was based on a "growing body of information" collected over time.
He was one of an increasing number of Germans whom authorities say are travelling to Pakistan’s tribal border region for training by Islamist militants, either to fight NATO forces or to return home and carry out attacks.
French authorities issued an advisory about Britain late on Tuesday urging travelers to be extremely vigilant on public transport and at popular tourist sites.
Britain’s threat level at home was raised to "severe" on Jan. 22 this year. "The French saying an attack is highly likely is true because that is where our threat level is," said a spokeswoman for London’s Counter Terrorism Command.
A U.S. missile strike on Wednesday killed five people in the main town in North Waziristan, home to the alleged plot against European cities.
The Pakistani ambassador in Washington, Hussein Haqqani, told the BBC that the increase in drone strikes in North Waziristan came after intelligence agencies uncovered a plot to "attack multiple targets in Europe".
He also said that a drone strike on Monday in the district which killed eight militants, including five German nationals, was linked to the plot.
De Maiziere declined to confirm that those killed were German, saying he was "amazed" by reports that the men’s passports had been found, even though it was an unmanned strike in a remote area.