Police officers try to restrain pro-bin Laden supporters, marching to the U.S. Embassy in London to protest against the killing of Al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden by U.S.' special force in Pakistan, from supporters of the right-wing English Defense League, Friday, May 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
LONDON—Pipe bombs, a targeted car crash, a lone gunman: Western intelligence officials said Friday they are seeing increased Internet and phone chatter about cheap, small-scale terror attacks to avenge the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
More than 100 protesters, meanwhile, gathered Friday outside the U.S. Embassy in London shouting, "USA, you will pay!" and warning of such revenge attacks.
European security officials say there is no specific plot to justify raising the threat level in Europe. But one of their biggest fears is the possibility of a Mumbai-style attack like the 2008 shooting spree that killed 166 people and paralyzed India's business capital for days.
Many of the Indian police who initially responded to the attack were unarmed. Most of Britain's police force is also unarmed, while other European police officers usually carry lighter arms than their North American counterparts.
Interpol has asked law enforcement agencies in some 188 countries to be on alert for retaliatory attacks. Communities have been warned to report anything suspicious. Embassies and some American businesses have added new security measures.
"Is it likely that people who follow bin Laden's ideology will try to avenge his death," one European intelligence official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work. "There is an increase in chatter, but that doesn't mean the threat has increased for now."
Europe has been the target of numerous terror plots by Islamist militants. The deadliest was the 2004 Madrid train bombings, when shrapnel-filled bombs exploded, killing 191 people and wounding about 1,800. A year later, suicide bombers killed 52 rush-hour commuters in London aboard three subway trains and a bus. And in 2006, U.S. and British intelligence officials thwarted one of the largest plots yet -- a plan to explode nearly a dozen trans-Atlantic airliners.
"There has been a mixture of chatter regarding low-tech attacks but nothing as yet that we see as a credible or imminent threat," said a second western intelligence official, also on condition of anonymity. "There have been mentions of shootings, bombings and random violence, though it is not surprising, given bin Laden's death."
According to computers, DVDs and documents from the luxury compound in Pakistan where U.S. officials think bin Laden had been living for up to six years, al-Qaida had hoped to attack a U.S. rail network to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The confiscated materials reveal the rail attack planning as of February 2010.
British cleric Anjem Choudary, who helped organize Friday's demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy, said revenge attacks in Britain and abroad were likely because of bin Laden's importance to al-Qaida and its affiliates. Choudary used to head the outlawed al-Muhajiroun group and is now a member of the Muslims Against Crusades group.
Associated Press
