Drone strikes foil Mumbai style attacks in Europe

Telegraph:

British Muslims training with al-Qaeda were planning an armed rampage through London as part of a terrorist spectacular aimed at European capitals, sources told the Daily Telegraph.

It is thought that the group was in the final stages of its preparations for co-ordinated attacks, thought to be on the capital cities of Britain, France and Germany.

The plot was foiled after Western intelligence agencies, including MI6 and GCHQ, uncovered the plans by senior al-Qaeda operatives in the lawless tribal areas.

The CIA launched a series of attacks against militants in the area using unmanned Predator drones armed with Hellfire missiles.

A senior al-Qaeda commander from Egypt, was killed in North Waziristan, disrupting the planned attacks.

Britain has remained on a heightened state of alert since January and Jonathan Evans, the director general of MI5, warned two weeks ago “the fact that there are real plots uncovered on a fairly regular basis demonstrates that there is a persistent intent on the part of Al Qaida and its associates to attack the UK.”

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In France, the Eiffel Tower was evacuated for the second time in a month yesterday (Tuesday) following a bomb alert.

The French national police chief, Frederic Pechenard, warned last week that tip-offs from “friendly” intelligence services had put the country on high alert and there was “serious evidence coming from reliable intelligence sources telling us that there is a risk of a major attack.”

Mr Pechenard said he feared two scenarios – the attempted assassination of a public figure or an attempted strike on a crowded public area like a metro train or department store.

The US military detained a resident from Hamburg, Germany in Afghanistan in July who allegedly revealed details of planned attacks on targets in Germany and Europe and is said to have been a “major source” of information on future attacks.

The man, identified in Germany as “Ahmad S”, aged 36, was said to be a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is closely associated with al-Qaeda.

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There have been hints of what was behind the large number of strikes, but this makes some sense. I am still a bit dubious that the strikes alone have foiled their plot.

The flooding in the tribal areas of Pakistan has knocked out all the bridges and the plotters are probably stuck there for awhile. That does make it easier to take shots at them, but I would be surprised if we could identify and locate all of them for Hellfire strikes unless we have some assets on the ground pointing them out.