Air France has cancelled Christmas flights to Los Angeles over US fears of a repeat of September 11th al Qaeda attacks, while a top target of the group, Pakistan's president, escaped assassination today for the second time this month.
As bombs hit cities from Baghdad to Kabul, two suicide car bombers struck Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's convoy in Rawalpindi, killing at least seven people and damaging three vehicles in the motorcade including his own. Air France flights to Los Angeles were scrapped after US intelligence found the name of at least one person with suspected links to terror groups on passenger manifests. As an extra precaution, the US Department of Homeland Security said extra sensors had been deployed to monitor the air for deadly microbes that could be used in an attack. France that extremist groups were planning "near-term simultaneous attacks that would rival September 11," a US official said.
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France said it cancelled six departing and returning flights on December 24th and 25th at Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's request. This week President George W. Bush's administration raised the US terror alert to the second-highest level, saying it was necessary to guard against "al Qaeda's continued desire to carry out attacks against our homeland".
US officials have warned Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda might try to hijack aircraft in a repeat of the 2001 attacks.
"The President and all his companions are safe and sound," Major-General Shaukat Sultan said. Al Qaeda has targeted Musharraf for joining a U.S.-led war on terror following the September 11, 2001, suicide attacks on the United States. Washington blamed al Qaeda for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
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US officials relayed "credible, reliable" intelligence reports to