Tipped off

last updated 8 January 2015

Paris

Prior to the July 7 London bombings, France knew that Britain was about to be attacked by al Qaida, Le Figaro reported this week. In a classified memo quoted by the newspaper, French intelligence agents said that “operatives drawing on pro-jihad sympathies within the large Pakistani community in the U.K.” were planning an attack “decided at the highest level of al Qaida.” The memo said France should monitor its own Pakistani immigrant community, which has close ties to the one in London. The French Interior Ministry refused to comment on whether it had passed any warning on to London. The Saudi ambassador to Britain, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said his country had warned the British government of an increased threat to London a few months before the bombings, but the warning did not specify targets or methods.