PARIS — Police say the threat of a terrorist attack on French soil is at its highest as authorities suspect al-Qaida's North African affiliate may be plotting a conventional bomb attack on a crowded target.
National police director Frederic Pechenard told Europe-1 radio, however, that reports of a female suicide bomber planning a Sept. 16 attack on the Paris Metro were "not so credible."
But he said Wednesday the threat level has reached a "peak" and that al-Qaida's North African branch poses the most serious threat, though the group is not thought to have the means for a nuclear or biological attack.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for last week's abduction of seven people, including five French nationals, in northern Niger.
