Hmmm…
[quote]Al Qaeda ‘planning to attack Euro 2008’
By Hannah Wood 15/05/2008
Al-Qaeda could be planning to attack this summer’s Euro 2008 football championships in Switzerland and Austria, it was reported today.
“The Euro 2008 tournament is a target cited by the Islamist terrorist network,” a police spokesman reportedly told Swiss newspaper La Liberte.
A flurry of messages have been monitored, by police and security officials in Switzerland, on two Islamist internet forums - sos minbar and As-Sahab - which are favoured by the extremist terrorist group as a means to awaken dormant cells.
One message is reported to say: “Let’s transform these two countries, the safest in Europe, into hell - like the hell in Iraq or Afghanistan.”
Another: “The hour has come for fighters of the faith. They must make themselves heard.”
A senior Swiss security official told the newspaper the messages calling for terror attacks on the two nations have multiplied in recent weeks.
“We are taking these threats seriously,” he said.
“We are on alert and we are following these jihad forums very closely. It is through these that (Osama) Bin Laden’s agents awaken dormant cells. The situation is serious even if it is frustrated people hiding behind these sites.”
Swiss police spokesman Juerg Buehler said: “We are following the situation very closely. We’re prepared for anything.”
Euro 2008 kicks off on June 7 in the Swiss city of Basle. Sixteen teams are taking part and millions of football fans are expected to travel to the games shared between eight venues in Switzerland and four in Austria for what is one of the world’s biggest international sporting events.
Security will be tight in and around the stadiums, at hotels and training grounds, and extra checks will be made on people buying tickets from “high-risk” areas in the Middle East, the La Liberte reported.
The federal government’s security budget for the tournament is said to top £18m.
Euro 2008 spokesperson Pascale Voegeli told the newspaper a figure wasn’t being put on anti-terror measures but it was a “top priority”.
Similar messages were posted in the run up to the World Cup in Germany two years ago.
The Mirror[/quote]
Of course, it might be noted that, the citizens of Switzerland are very heavily armed…
