December 25, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 1, 1424

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PARIS/LOS ANGELES, Dec 24: The French government asked Air France on Wednesday to cancel Paris-Los Angeles flights over Christmas after the United States provided information Al Qaeda may have “infiltrated” the carrier.

A Department of Homeland Security official said US officials, on heightened alert for possible attacks over the Christmas holiday period, had scoured passenger lists of the planes and detected a “credible threat” from an Al Qaeda operative.

Air France said it had cancelled six departing and returning flights for Wednesday and Thursday at the prime minister’s request. The airline was named in a Washington Post report that said US officials were putting foreign carriers under scrutiny as part of precautions against another Sept 11-style attack.

French officials said some passengers had been prevented from boarding flights but there were no arrests.

“Air France has cancelled the flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, December 24 and 25, between Paris and Los Angeles,” French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin’s office said in a statement.

“This measure was taken at the request of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on the basis of information, currently being checked, which was gathered in the framework of Franco-American cooperation in the fight against terrorism and which was of a nature to threaten the safety of these flights.”

A French television network said the information was based on e-mails suggesting Al Qaeda could be planning an attack on civilian flights from Paris to the United States over Christmas.

The US government warned Americans there was a high risk of even bigger attacks during the holidays when it raised its terror alert to the second highest level on Sunday.

“Of course. The Americans’ big fear is a repeat of Sept 11,” a French government source said when asked whether US officials were concerned that Al Qaeda militants could hijack a flight.—Reuters