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No proof of métro bomb plot but France steps up security after IS threat

French and American authorities say they know of no plans to attack their métro and subway systems despite the Iraqi prime minister’s claim to have “credible” reports of such plots. France on Thursday tightened security following the murder French hiker Hervé Gourdel in Algeria.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve meets police patrolling Paris's Gare du Nord last month
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve meets police patrolling Paris's Gare du Nord last month AFP
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“French intelligence has no information at the moment that confirms today’s statement by the Iraqi prime minister concerning attacks on the métro,” Prime Minister Manuel Valls’s office said on Thursday.

Transport police told Le Monde newspaper that they had received no orders to be especially vigilant.

US officials also said they had no indications of a plot, although New York police stepped up their presence on the subway and the streets.

While in New York for the UN General Assembly, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi told a group of journalists that arrests in Baghdad had revealed that networks linked to the Islamic State (IS) armed group was planning “attacks in the metros of Paris and the US”.

"I asked for more credible information,” he said. “I asked for names. I asked for details, for cities, you know, dates. And from the details I have received, yes, it looks credible."

Iraqi officials questioned the claim when contacted by the Reuters news agency, although a senior official travelling with him said Iraqi intelligence had uncovered "serious threats" had informed allies' intelligence agencies.

An emergency cabinet meeting had already ordered extra security measures in France, following IS’s call to sympathisers to kill French and other US allies’ citizens and Gourdel’s subsequent murder.

They will include:

  • Surveillance of well-known tourist sites, airports, rail stations and religious buildings;
  • Tighter security in department stores and shopping malls;
  • Restrictions on parking near “sensitive” buildings and sites.

Details of the implementation of the decision on commercial premises are to be decided after consulting the companies concerned but are likely to include checks on bags.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has added 10 countries to its 30-strong list of places where travellers are advised to exercise the “greatest possible vigilance”.

They were Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, the Comoros, Burundi, Tanzania and Somalia.

Despite the security concerns, France continued its participation in air strikes against IS targets on Thursday.
 

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