INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS across Europe have reportedly uncovered a massive plot by a group linked to Al Qaeda to carry out co-ordinated terrorist attacks in major cities across the continent.

The attacks, it is reported, would have been similar to the armed attacks of Mumbai in 2008 where armed attackers stormed a series of hotels and killed 173 people, injuring over 300 more, while coordinating a series of consecutive explosions.

Sky News’s reported that militants based in Pakistan were planning attacks in London, France and Germany, and may have been planning to mount similar attacks in the United States. The plot was at an “advanced but not imminent stage”, it added.

It added that an increase in the volume of drone attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks was linked to Western attempts to foil the plot.

A top intelligence official in Washington refused to comment on the reports, saying to do so would “undermine intelligence operations that are critical to protecting the US and our allies”.

Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said the United States knew Al Qaeda wanted “to attack Europe and the United States. We continue to work closely with our European allies on the threat from international terrorism, including Al Qaeda.”

A spokesman for Britain’s home office also refused to comment, telling AFP merely that the country acknowledged the threat of terrorism.

Germany has admitted it was aware of the potential attacks, but said there was no firm signs that an attack was imminent.

Reuters says a statement from its interior ministry said there were “no concrete pointers to imminent attacks in Germany stemming from this”, and that “the current pointers do not warrant a change in the assessment of the danger level.”