Hundreds of Islamic terrorists remain dormant in western Europe and are ready to strike again, according to senior German intelligence sources.
Although there is no indication of attacks to coincide with the anniversary of September 11th, Germany's domestic and external security services warned yesterday that individual sympathisers or hitherto undiscovered terrorist cells might be ready to strike, without warning.
"The network is fundamentally ready for action, even if its scope has been restricted," said Mr Manfred Klink, head of the anti-terrorist unit of the Bundeskriminalamt, Germany's equivalent of the US's FBI.
The warning came as Germany's external security service said it believed al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters were reforming in Afghanistan and planning action there.
Germany has played a central role in investigations into al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalist groups after it emerged that three of the four pilots involved in the September 11th attacks and several key supporters had lived unnoticed for years in Hamburg.