Japan warns of terror in Europe

PARIS – Japan issued a travel alert for Europe yesterday, joining the United States and Britain in warning of a possible terrorist attack by al Qaeda or other groups, but tourists appeared to be taking the mounting warnings in stride.

The Foreign Ministry in Tokyo urged Japanese citizens to be cautious when using public transport or visiting popular tourist sites – issuing another blow to Europe’s tourism industry, which is just starting to recover from the global financial crisis.
European authorities – especially in Britain, France and Germany – tightened efforts to keep the public safe in the wake of warnings by officials that the terrorism threat is high and extra vigilance is warranted.
Last week, a Pakistani intelligence official said eight Germans and two British brothers were at the heart of an al Qaeda-linked terror plot against European cities, but the plan was still in its early stages, with the suspects calling acquaintances in Europe to plan logistics. The official said the suspects were hiding in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region where militancy is rife and where the United States has increased its drone-fired missile strikes in recent weeks.
Security officials say terrorists may be plotting attacks in Europe with assault weapons on public places, similar to the deadly 2008 shooting spree in Mumbai, India. European officials have provided no details about specific targets.
Former US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urged Americans in Europe to take common sense precautions, such as knowing where they are in a city and identifying an exit at major tourist sites.
‘Don’t walk around with the American flag on your back,’ Chertoff, who headed the agency during the Bush administration, told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’. (Consider) where would you take shelter if something happened.’
Yesterday, French police arrested a 53-year-old man suspected of links to a bomb threats including on Friday at a Paris railway hub, an official with knowledge of the investigation said on condition of anonymity. The suspect, who was not identified, was detained southwest of the capital for possible links to a phone-in threat at the Saint-Lazare train station.
French authorities recorded nine bomb alerts in the capital in September, including two at the Eiffel Tower – a threefold increase from a year earlier. No explosives were found.
The US State Department alert on Sunday advised the hundreds of thousands of American citizens living or travelling in Europe to take more precaution about their personal security. The British Foreign Office warned travellers to France and Germany that the terror threat in the countries was high.
Western nations are aligned in their estimation of the threat, a French official said.
‘These American recommendations are line with the recommendations that we have made on our own territory,’ said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, pointing to France’s ‘red’ terror alert status – the second-highest in the French warning system.
In Berlin, Interior Ministry spokesman Michael Paris said German authorities were taking the latest travel warnings ‘very seriously,’ but that there were no indications of an imminent terror threat.
Neither France or Germany has raised its terror alert level recently.
Business travellers and tourists arriving yesterday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport from the United States said they were aware of the new warnings but weren’t changing their plans.
Yet Germans – authorities and citizens alike – were not convinced of the need for concern.
‘I think it is quite exaggerated,’ said Marian Sutholt, 25, of Berlin. ‘If you worry all the time, you actually live up exactly to what the terrorists want. So you should take things as they come and not worry too much. Hopefully nothing will happen.’ – Nampa-AP

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