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By Frank Gardner
 
BBC security correspondent
   
Western intelligence agencies are tracking a significant al-Qaeda plot to carry out commando-style raids on cities in Britain, France and Germany.

It is thought teams of jihadists plan to seize Western hostages and murder them - in a manner similar to the siege of two Indian hotels in Mumbai.

The plot is believed to be in its early stages.

No imminent arrests in the UK are expected, and the national threat level remains at its current level of severe.

Details leaked
 
Intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are tracking one of the most serious al-Qaeda attack plans in recent years.

Inspired by al-Qaeda's fugitive core leadership in Pakistan's tribal areas, the plan is understood to include small well-armed commando-style teams of jihadist militants.

The idea is thought to have moved from the aspirational stage to actual planning.

Western security agencies may have been hoping to keep their knowledge of it out of the public spotlight for longer so criminal evidence could be gathered, but initial details were leaked to the US press.

In the UK, the national threat remains at severe, where it has been since January, meaning a terrorist attack is thought highly likely.

But government officials say there are no plans to raise it to the highest level of critical, and they do not expect to see an imminent wave of arrests.

France and Germany are both on a heightened state of security alert.

BBC

Officials have linked a recent increase in US drone missile attacks in Pakistan to efforts to disrupt a suspected al-Qaeda plot to attack European targets.

The strikes include one on Monday which killed eight militants, among them five German nationals, Pakistan's ambassador to the US told the BBC.

The strikes have targeted Pakistan's tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

A British man killed in a strike last month was to head an al-Qaeda faction in the UK, BBC's Newsnight has learnt.

"The activity we see in North Waziristan, in terms of strikes and terms of measures to try to get people from al-Qaeda and associated groups, is connected to the terrorist warnings that we have heard about potential strikes in Europe," Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Hussein Haqqani, told the BBC.

Mr Haqqani said Pakistan was working with European and US intelligence agencies to prevent the suspected plans to attack Europe and that people should not panic.

Security sources say a German man detained in Afghanistan in July had provided the first information about plans to launch commando-style attacks on targets in Britain, France and Germany.

As well as Paris and London, Berlin was cited in a US warning at the weekend as a possible target for a suspected al-Qaeda plot.

Several countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens, saying they should be vigilant while travelling in Europe.