Al-Qaeda-linked terror plot targeting Europe foiled: report

LONDON: Intelligence agencies have disrupted an Al-Qaeda-linked plot to launch terror attacks in Britain, France and Germany, a report said, citing intelligence sources.

Militants based in Pakistan planned simultaneous strikes in London and major cities in France and Germany, Britain's television reported Tuesday, adding the plan was advanced but the attacks were not imminent.

Spy agencies had for some time been tracking the militants who were planning the attack, according to Sky.

The attacks would have been similar to commando-style raids carried out in Mumbai in 2008, intelligence sources were cited as telling the broadcaster.

The plot in Europe was uncovered after intelligence-sharing between London, France, Germany and the United States, said report.

The report of the foiled plot came on the same day the Eiffel Tower in Paris was evacuated following a bomb threat for the second time in a month and amid official warnings in France of an imminent terrorist attack.

When investigators discovered the plan, the US military began helping its European allies track down the organisers in Pakistan, which explains the increase in drone attacks in the country in recent weeks, said the channel.

"I am led to believe a number of these attacks were designed against the leadership of this particular plot," said Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall.

He added the plot "had an Al-Qaeda and possibly some sort of Taliban connection projecting into Europe."