FRANCE/FILE: Anti-terrorism expert who investigated a wave of Paris bomb attacks in the 1990s says the country faces the same threat today

Record ID: 351921

  • Title: FRANCE/FILE: Anti-terrorism expert who investigated a wave of Paris bomb attacks in the 1990s says the country faces the same threat today
  • Date: 22nd September 2010
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE - JULY 25,1995) (REUTERS) HELICOPTER FLYING OVER BUILDINGS AT SCENE OF BOMB ATTACK NEAR SAINT-MICHEL METRO STATION HELICOPTER DESCENDING CLOSER TO STREET LEVEL SIGN READING: "PONT SAINT MICHEL"
  • Embargoed: 7th October 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8VYVI0V4UIJF9Y7HRXL551K8X
  • Story Text: One of France's top anti terror experts warned the country on Tuesday (September 21) that it currently faced the same level of threat from terror attacks as it did on the eve of a bloody bombing campaign in the 1990s.
    The Saint-Michel metro station was the site of a July 1995 bomb claimed by Algeria's Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which killed eight and wounded 80.
    Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who stepped down as France's top anti-terror investigating magistrate in 2007, said indications of a threat were multiplying like tremors ahead of an earthquake.
    Asked by an interviewer on RTL radio of the parallels with 1995, he said: "Yes... We could already see it coming. There's a recurrence of, an increase, of threats on websites, the same diatribes. It's been going on for eight or nine months."
    "It's a bit like an earthquake, you can see that it's accelerated," he added.
    Bruguiere is the latest in a string of officials and anti-terror figures to warn that a terror attack may be imminent.
    On Monday (September 20), Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux called for increased vigilance.
    Other experts have cited an increase in internet chatter among Islamic militants as one of the elements that has raised the threat.
    French police evacuated tourists from the landmark Paris Eiffel Tower and a metro station following bomb alerts earlier this month, but searches found no explosives. A police spokesman said the company that operates the Eiffel Tower received an anonymous call around 2030 local time (1430 EDT) saying a bomb had been planted there.
    French police have been on high alert due to the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
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