EU security commissioner warns of more Qaeda attacks

By Patrick McLoughlin

RIGA (Reuters) – The EU’s security commissioner said on
Saturday he believed suicide bombings in London in July were
likely to have been the work of groups linked to al Qaeda and
warned more attacks in Europe were to be expected.

Franco Frattini, the European Union’s commissioner for
justice and security, said he would look at guidelines for
action to prevent and fight terrorism at a European Parliament
session next week and has said efforts to create an EU-wide
intelligence network should be agreed next week.

He told Reuters the data collection proposal would be on
the agenda of a meeting of EU interior and justice ministers in
the English city of Newcastle next week.

The former Italian foreign minister, who is visiting
Latvia, said British authorities were studying a video
statement by one of the London suicide bombers aired by Arabic
TV station Al Jazeera to find out if al Qaeda was behind the
attack.

“But my personal opinion, at this stage, is that,
unfortunately, the terrorist attacks against democratic
countries will continue,” Frattini told a news conference. “Al
Qaeda-linked groups are likely (to have been) behind the attack
on London.”

The British government has made no comment about the video
but several experts have said al Qaeda probably did not play a
major role in the London attacks.

Frattini said he believed London and European freedom had
been deliberately targeted by al Qaeda.

“That is why, unfortunately, I believe this terrible
strategy of terrorists will not stop here.”