US: The al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is still alive and the organisation is preparing a new series of terrorist attacks around the world, the American chief of the international police agency Interpol warned yesterday.
"Osama bin Laden is alive, and on the ground the hunt for him goes on as it did on the very first day ... As long as I have no proof to the contrary, I will consider bin Laden a fugitive well and truly alive," Ronald Noble told Le Figaro newspaper.
Mr Noble, who became Interpol's secretary-general two years ago, said that for the moment al-Qaeda appeared to be lying low and allowing other "middle-ranking" terrorist groups to carry out attacks - such as those in Bali and Moscow.
"The battlefield now spreads across every country and mobilises several terrorist groups. This message is not at all reassuring. It suggests a kind of co-ordination of terror.
"Indeed, intelligence experts all agree that right now al-Qaeda is preparing a high-profile terrorist operation, with simultaneous attacks targeting not just the US but several countries at the same time," he said.
Meanwhile, suspects arrested in France this week in connection with the bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia in April had links to al-Qaeda, French Interior Minister Mr Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday.
Speaking on French radio, Mr Sarkozy said more information would come to light soon about the arrest of eight people in Lyon on Tuesday, and at least one other person in Marseille.
"In Marseille and Lyon, the next few days will show us that this is about important things," he told Europe 1 radio. When asked whether there was an al-Qaeda link to the arrests, he replied: "Unfortunately." The government said this week those arrested in Lyon included the father, mother, brother and other relatives of Nizar Nouar (24), the truck driver killed in what authorities called a suicide attack on the synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia.
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the explosion, which killed 14 Germans, five Tunisians and a Frenchman.
Mr Sarkozy's comments heightened concerns in France that al-Qaeda operatives could be plotting an attack in the country.
French newspaper Le Parisien quoted yesterday from what it said was a leaked report by French undercover police as saying France was a "favoured target".
It said the report by France's General Intelligence (RG) police unit said France was in the sights of militant Islamic groups.
Le Parisien quoted the RG report as saying around 30 French citizens had received so-called jihad training and were ready to reinforce fundamentalist cells in Europe.
Separately, the head of the international police authority Interpol told the Paris daily Le Figaro that al-Qaeda militants seem to be preparing simultaneous attacks in several countries, including the United States.
"All intelligence experts are agreed that al-Qaeda is preparing a major terrorist operation, simultaneous attacks that would not target the United States alone but several countries at the same time," Interpol secretary-general Mr Ronald Noble said.