Saudi warns France of 'real' threat from Al Qaeda

Saleh al-Shawesh (right), who has confessed to involvement in seven deadly attacks claimed by Al Qaeda on oil and military installations in eastern Yemen, is escorted by security Monday into a court in Sana'a that sentenced him to death. Photo: AFP

French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Sunday that the French had been warned by Saudi Arabia that Al Qaeda was targeting France.

"Several hours or days ago, there was a new message from the Saudis that said Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was, without doubt, active or planning to be active in Europe, especially France," he told French radio RTL.

"This is not about overestimating the threat or underestimating it. I am indicating, based on all these elements, that the threat is real," he said.

Hortefeux's remarks indicated that the new warning was not connected with the heightened alert in France in late September based on a tip-off that a female suicide bomber was planning to attack its transport system.

The AQAP, an arm of Al Qaeda thought to include Yemenis and Saudis, has stepped up attacks on Yemeni and Western targets since it claimed a failed US airliner bombing in December.

Also Monday, citing an unnamed senior NATO official, CNN reported that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in a house in northwest Pakistan close to his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Bin Laden is being protected by local people and "some members of the Pakistani intelligence services," the official was quoted as saying in a report datelined Kabul.

"The official also confirmed the US assessment that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, has moved between the cities of Quetta and Karachi in Pakistan over the last several months," the CNN report said online.

Pakistani authorities have denied that they are providing protection for bin Laden.

"It is a baseless assertion; we reject it," a Pakistani foreign ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Agencies