Air France canceled several passenger flights to the US over Christmas after US officials passed on "credible" security threats involving passengers scheduled to fly to Los Angeles on flights from Paris, US and European officials said.
Six flights scheduled for Wednesday and yesterday were canceled -- three headed to Los Angeles, and the three return flights to Paris. US officials have repeatedly warned that al-Qaeda terrorists may be eyeing Los Angeles International Airport, one of the busiest in the world.
US officials were in intense security talks with officials from several other countries, too, as intelligence concerns about possible plans by al-Qaeda to use aircraft to attack American targets again intensified.
One industry official, who asked not to be identified, said a Mexican airline, Aeromexico, was another focus of US concern.
In the US, security officials closely watched activity at airports, train stations and public buildings, while police randomly stopped cars near the US Capitol. Officials also have expressed concern that terrorists may try to use a biological, chemical or radiological weapon, and have installed more sensors around urban areas to detect dangerous microbes in the air.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the decision to cancel the flights came early Wednesday after American authorities notified France that "two or three" suspicious people, possibly Tunisian nationals, were planning to board the flights.
Raffarin requested the cancellations based on information "gathered in the framework of French-American cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and which was of a nature that threatened the safety of these flights," his office said in a statement.
His spokesman said the US had threatened to refuse the planes permission to land in Los Angeles if they took off. The French Interior Ministry also said the flights were canceled at the request of the US Embassy in Paris.
US officials refused to confirm that they had made the request, leaving the question of who actually ordered the cancellations unclear.
The French Interior Ministry declined to say whether there was a specific threat against an aircraft. But terror alert levels in the US and France have been elevated in recent weeks.
No more cancellations were expected, Raffarin's spokesman said.
French television station LCI reported that American authorities believed members of al-Qaeda may have been planning to board the planes. The Interior Ministry declined to comment on whether any al-Qaeda members figured into the incident.
The US handed French authorities the names of suspicious people who may have intended to board the flights but no people by those names went through airport security checks, the Interior Ministry said, adding that no arrests were made.
American officials said the US government was comparing data it had compiled on passengers preparing to board flights entering the US, as well as data on the flight crews on those flights, with terrorist watch lists it has compiled.
"We are looking at both passengers as well as flight crews," the official said.
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