Europe beefs up security

2005-07-07 22:23

Paris - Governments across Europe beefed up security on Thursday following a series of deadly rush-hour bombings in London, with police stepping up patrols in airports, rail stations and public transport systems.

"The state of alert concerns all of Europe," Italian interior minister Giuseppe Pisanu told reporters after a meeting of police officials and anti-terrorism experts in Rome.

France, Italy and Spain all raised their anti-terror alert levels following the explosions in London, which rocked both underground trains and a bus, killing at least 37 and injuring 700.

A group calling itself the al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe claimed responsibility for the attacks in an unauthenticated Internet message, which also warned Denmark and Italy to withdraw their troops from Iraq.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the bombings bear "all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda".

In Madrid, where 191 people were killed in a series of train bombings on March 11 2004, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that "all alert and prevention systems" had been activated nationwide.

Spanish interior minister Jose Antonio Alonso ordered that the country be placed on the highest level of its anti-terrorism protection plan.

Security forces moved in to patrol communications centers, stadiums, shopping malls, power stations and water facilities, the Spanish interior ministry said.

In France, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced that he had ordered an increase in the country's anti-terror alert level to red, the second-highest rating.

Security was especially tight around the British embassy in Paris, as well as in Paris area airports and rail stations for passengers travelling to Britain.

The red level of France's Vigipirate security plan calls for random checks in trains, patrols on high-speed trains including Eurostar trains heading to London and airspace restrictions over certain sensitive areas.

French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie immediately announced the deployment of military reinforcements to "sensitive" sites across the country, including train stations and airports.

Officials at Eurotunnel, the Franco-British company operating the Channel rail tunnel, said British authorities had told them there was "no specific threat linked to the tunnel".

Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters that five French police officers were taking part in the probe into the attacks and that France could "like others, face a threat".

"France has not received a threat.

"Nevertheless a certain number of groups have been arrested recently which leads us to think that France, like other countries, no more, but no less, could be threatened," he said.

Italy's Pisanu told the Senate that the country had raised its security alert level in line with other European states.

In Germany, interior minister Otto Schily said he would travel to London on Friday to gain a better understanding of the situation and urged increased vigilance at home.

Berlin public transport officials raised their security alert level from "green" to "yellow", the mid-level rating, but noted they had no information about a possible attack in the German capital.

German officials in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia also boosted security at British and US installations, including several British military bases.

In Moscow, officials bolstered security in the metro system, which has been the target of several attacks in recent years.

In February 2004, a suicide bomb attack killed 42 people.

In Belgium, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said security had been beefed up around embassies and railway and metro stations.

Several European countries including Germany and Greece set up crisis units at their embassies in London, urging their nationals visiting Britain not to use public transport for the time being.

Dutch officials heightened security patrols in and around ports that provide sea links to British destinations.

In the Czech Republic, authorities increased patrols in shopping centers and other buildings deemed sensitive, including power stations and the headquarters of the US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe.

In Romania, the army said it had strengthened security measures around military sites.

Serbian police reinforced security measures at border crossings, embassies, train and bus stations and airports, as well as around state institutions, embassies and public buildings.

Israeli officials immediately implemented a security clampdown at their embassy in London.

"The embassy has been put on a state of alert and our staff have been told not to leave for now," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

Across the Atlantic, the United States raised its threat level for mass transit and train systems to code orange or "high" - the second highest rank on a five-point scale, homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said.

And secretary of state Condoleezza Rice ordered American embassies across the globe to review their security posture following the blasts, the state department said.

Security was beefed up on the US railway Amtrak and on both the Washington and New York subway systems.

In Rome, the EU's justice and security commissioner Franco Frattini said the EU Commission would discuss proposals to enable EU members to rapidly respond to terrorist attacks for Europe at a meeting next week.

"That would allow the European Union to react in a more effective and co-ordinated way to terrorist attacks like today's," said Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister.

- AFP