Experts warn on al-Qaeda
2004-08-07 21:37
Paris - The latest threats purportedly issued by Al-Qaeda must be taken seriously because they may be a diversionary smokescreen in preparation for a major attack on a western target, anti-terorrism specialists have warned.
Al-Qaeda is stepping up the volume of its threats to drown out the effects of key members being arrested and counter the increasingly effective work of anti-terrorism agencies, they told AFP this week.
But Roland Jacquard, head of the International Terrorism Observatory think tank in Paris, warned: "By filtering these threats through Islamic extremist internet websites, Al-Qaeda is creating a smokescreen that one of its top groups can hide behind in preparation for a large-scale attack against some symbolic target."
"Al-Qaeda threats have to be taken seriously even if they are just diversionary manoeuvres, because they may conceal preparations for a major attack," said Antoine Sfeir, editor of the publication Cahiers de l'Orient (Eastern Notebook), likewise interviewed by AFP.
Experts reacted positive to recent arrests of terrorist suspects.
"International co-operation is starting to bear fruit and terrorist cells are collapsing one after another just about everywhere," said one French anti-terrorism operative, who wished to remain anonymous.
Key Al-Qaeda suspected have been arrested in London, Riyadh and Pakistan in recent weeks.
"International anti-terrorist co-operation is working well," said Sfeir, citing the arrest by Pakistani intelligence services in Lahore on July 13 of a computer expert alleged to be linked to Al-Qaeda.
Sfeir said analysis of Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan's computer had enabled British police to arrest 12 people in Britain on Tuesday, including the suspected Al-Qaeda operational chief in Britain.
The detentions closely followed heightened security alerts in the United States.
At the same time, threats of attacks and alerts focusing on world merchant shipping and European airports increased.
The Italian authorities raised the security alert at airports and Britain's top naval officer warned of a potential threat to shipping.
Jacquard, an Al-Qaeda specialist who is due to publish a book next month called "The Bin Laden Galaxy", said intelligence services were spending considerable time and resources checking the basis of alerts and warnings on the assumption of a constant terrorist threat.
Jacquard noted that good co-operation between Pakistani and British intelligence services had contributed to the arrest of the 12 in Britain.