Terrorists are ‘planning to attack tourists in Spain, France and Italy’
Terrorists are planning to attack tourists in popular beach resorts in Spain, Italy and France, according to a German newspaper.
The journal Bild quoted security sources from Germany’s secret service BND claiming that terrorists intend to pose as refugees selling ice cream, T-shirt sellers and trinkets to plant explosives under sunbeds on beaches.
They are also planning to use guns and suicide bombers to replicate last year’s attack on tourists in the Tunisian beach resort of Sousse, in which 38 people died, 30 of them British. said the newspsaper report.
According to the Bild, intelligence chiefs have identified beaches in the south of France, Spain’s Costa del Sol and on both Italian coasts as definite targets.
The article was published as Spanish police arrested a terrorist suspect in Palma, Majorca.
The unnamed man, from Morocco, is suspected of having close links to Islamist militants.
He is believed to have been in charge of commissioning attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe, as well as recruiting fighters in Syria and Iraq, said Spanish officials.
The UK Foreign Office has not changed its travel advice for Spain, France or Italy in the last few days. It was already warning of a high threat of terrorist attacks in Spain and France, while in Italy it says there is a ‘general’ threat from terrorism.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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