Investigator Says France Faces ‘Alarming Threat’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
France faces an “alarming” terrorist threat ahead of the presidential election this year, said Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the country’s leading anti-terrorist investigator.
France is the primary target of Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a North African organization that has become an ally of Al Qaeda in recent years, he said.
“It’s a difficult situation and the danger has reached a high level,” Mr. Bruguiere said in an interview in New York. “It’s alarming, but we are mobilized.”
Al Qaeda’s no. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, named France among a list of targets in a videotaped message posted September 10 on a Web site used by the group.
