Drone strikes linked to Europe plot: Haqqani

Haqqani confirms extremists had been planning to strike targets across Europe.

LONDON: Increased drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas are linked to a suspected al Qaeda plot targeting Europe, said Ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani on Wednesday.

“I think the activity we see in North Waziristan in terms of strikes ... is connected to the terrorist warnings that we have heard about potential strikes in Europe,” Haqqani told the BBC in an interview.

The envoy also confirmed that extremists had been planning to strike targets across Europe, following reports that Britain, France and Germany were being targeted.

“From what Pakistan has been told by our American partners, certain people have been arrested in the past. Their interrogation and other intelligence have revealed that there has been a plot to attack multiple targets in Europe,” he said.

His comments came after a US drone strike killed eight militants – including five Germans – on Monday in North Waziristan Agency, according to a Pakistani security official.

Pakistani authorities have reported 24 US drone strikes since September 3 which are responsible for the deaths of more than 140 people.

Since reports of the terror plot emerged, Japan, Sweden, the United States and Britain have warned of possible terrorist attacks against their citizens travelling in Europe.

Haqqani urged people to not panic, saying that “European, Pakistani and American intelligence services are working together to foil these plots.”

Over in Germany, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday that he saw no indications of any imminent terror attack on his country.

German security officials are investigating every tip and are working closely with Germany’s international partners, he said. “No one should doubt that Germany is a target for terrorists but on the other hand there are no concrete, immediate attack plans that we are aware of,” Maiziere said.

European countries like to allow identified plots to run on in order to garner evidence which can be used in court, rather than rush to issue a terror warning, analysts say.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2010.