PARIS, July 3: Al Qaeda’s influence is spreading across Europe and experts said there is a growing threat of rogue cells of sympathisers carrying out attacks like those tried in London and Glasgow.

“The terrorist threat exists and is very strong in Europe. The Jihadist front is clearly getting closer to Europe,” said Claude Moniquet, an expert at the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre, a Brussels-based think tank.

Alarm bells have been ringing in many capitals in recent weeks and the warnings have been heightened by the weekend events in Glasgow and London, which prompted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to say “we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with Al Qaeda”.

Governments in France, Germany and other European nations held special security meetings after the British scare.

As the trial ends of accused Al Qaeda sympathisers over the 2004 Madrid train bombings, Spain has made a number of arrests of members of Osama bin Laden's group. Spain is worried by the rise of Islamist sentiment in Morocco and Algeria across the Mediterranean.

Prosecutors in Germany, where officials say the country is also vulnerable, said last week they have brought charges against an Iraqi for trying to recruit Al Qaeda followers over the Internet.

After the failed bombings in Britain, German Chancellor Angela Merkel renewed a call for the right to deploy the military on German soil in the event of an imminent terrorist threat.

Highlighting intelligence concerns, German Interior Minister August Hanning last month compared the activity by radical elements in Germany to events in the country ahead of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Many of the Sept 11 hijackers had links in Germany.

Turkish police last week arrested five people in Istanbul, among them Chechens, suspected of having links with Al Qaeda, media reported.

Sweden recently deported to Germany a Moroccan suspected of working with the militant group. US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said this week that the United States is concerned about potential terrorists travelling on European passports.

Moniquet, at the Brussels think tank, said that European cooperation with the United States has prevented attacks.

“But we must fear that one day a small cell that has not been detected escapes the surveillance and carries out a big attack,” he said.

Rachid Khechana, a Tunisian analyst of the Islamist movement and writer, said that Al Qaeda now poses a “real threat” in Europe, particularly in Britain.

“This country will continue to be the target of terrorist acts as long as it remains militarily engaged alongside the United States in Iraq,” Khechana said.

—AFP