Al Qaeda Plot To Bomb 5 European Passenger Planes Before Christmas

There is a terrorist bomb plot that is "alive and real" in Europe, security sources have told British media. The Al Qaeda are launching a terrorist Christmas "spectacular."

One high-ranking security force said that five planes are in the hit list in a "high profile hit before Christmas." Terrorists are reportedly waiting for the "big one." Although threats are frequent, this one nearly got them confiscating all the hand baggage from all the airlines, according to rtnews.com.

The terrorists hope to hit the major European destinations, according to a source. They feel that Europe is targeted because the U.S. has enhanced its security, but Europe is still on the hit list. "Everyone is expecting something catastrophic very soon," said the source.

Home Secretary Theresa May recently said that U.K. will most probably face the "greatest ever threat" of terrorist attacks. She revealed that they had upgraded their security and also given better and faster access to airline passenger details.Interestingly, Scotland Yard says that so far, up to five major plots have been defused. This is opposed to the average of one plot a year, even as more than 270 terrorist accused were arrested in U.K. since January. From August onwards, though, the level of threats went up to "severe," which was just below the "critical" threshold.

There were bombs that had been suspected of being hidden in toothpaste tubes, which resulted in a lot of disruption to visitors to the Sochi Winter Olympics, according to express.co.uk. Strict security checks at the U.K. airports will result in massive queues at that time of the year that is excessively busy for the airports, according to Sunday Express.

One more matter of concern is that terror attacks will be executed by "sleepers cells" or terrorist trainees with blonde skin, eyes and hair. A number of such "sleeper cells" are expected to be gearing up for the attacks. These inmates are mostly from "ordinary" and not very religious British families, who tend to get attracted by the religious pull of the Islamists. The success of ISIS and other jihadists in the Middle East and Africa has impressed many terrorist wannabes. U.K. assumes that at least 500 British citizens have joined the Islamist causes in Iraq and Syria. They are expected to come back and extend the threat to Britain.

However, defusing the threat from air travel calls for rather "disruptive," and "possibly impractical measures." Even as high level negotiations are taking place at governmental levels, critics feel that there is little being done to respond to it. It is very difficult to ban hand luggage, "one of the strongest weapons we have against the new threats," according to the U.K. source.

Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist groups are experts at manufacturing non-metallic explosives such as bombs inside printers. It is difficult to identify them with the help of airport scanners. Some explosives can even be used as liquids, such as those manufactured by the Khorasan group in Syria, say the U.S. intelligence sources. The U.K. service MI6 even suspect that they could deploy suicide bombers with explosive devices within their bodies.

It is quite possible that the terrorists may have conducted some "dry runs" to test the airport security. It would be very difficult for the authorities to ensure the security of millions. Banning all electronic devices, including computers from business class passengers, which hauls in the income for the airlines is "nearly unsustainable in their business model." Still, when even a mobile phone can be used as a bomb, it opens up a whole new field of worry for everyone.

Catching the terrorists even before they head out to attack becomes difficult too, because the terrorist groups have multiplied, while information is open to all of them.