US seeks global help fearing terror attack

A day after Air France canceled six flights between Paris and Los Angeles at US urging, officials said terrorists may be seeking a repeat of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed about 3,000 people.

"We remain concerned about al-Qaeda's desire to use an aircraft as a weapon," said Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security.

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Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke to his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, by telephone on Wednesday about the reported threat, French and American officials said.

The conversation was one of several with other governments about "ways to counter" what the US intelligence community described as a substantial jump in intercepted communications about a possible attack during or after the Christmas holiday period, a State Department official said.

Powell also spoke to Ana Palacio, the Spanish foreign minister, on Wednesday, though there was no immediate word on precisely what was discussed, the official said.

"The (US) embassy was talking to French officials, the State Department talked to French officials and law enforcement had been talking to French officials," the official added. "Of course, we've been in touch with governments -- plural -- not just France."

The Los Angeles Times said France acted by canceling the flights after US intelligence found as many as six people, including a licensed pilot, booked on Air France's scheduled Christmas eve flight from Paris to Los Angeles "might be al-Qaeda or Taliban terrorists."

"That belief, according to several senior US counterterrorism officials, was based on reliable and corroborated information from several sources," the newspaper said.

It said some of the suspects had the same names as members of al- Qaeda and the Taliban, driven from power in Afghanistan by the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.

CIA, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security officials declined comment on the report.

In Paris, a French Interior Ministry spokesman said nine people booked on Air France's canceled Christmas eve flight AF 068 had been questioned and released without being charged. Four were US nationals, two German, one Algerian, one French and one Belgian, the spokesman said.

An Air France spokeswoman said normal service between Paris and Los Angeles would resume on Friday.