Europe ramps up security to prepare for terror attacks

World Today

The head of Europe’s law enforcement agency warns “hundreds” of jihadis could be plotting attacks on the continent. There are growing concerns about security for vacationers this summer.

CCTV’s Guy Henderson reports from Rome.

Those protecting Europe’s capitals know the terrorist threat is changing. Commanders no longer focus on just a handful of high profile targets.

“It is evident that we are living in an historic period and after the attacks in Paris and Brussels, we have to be cautious across the whole city in general as well as at specific sites,” Captain Giovanni Scali, Rome Deputy Police Chief said.

Italy’s official threat level remains lower than in France or Germany. But the number of warnings in recent weeks has raised some concerns.

One of them came just this week from Rob Wainwright – the head of Europe’s law enforcement agency Europol. Wainwright said he believed there were “several hundred” battle-hardened European jihadists likely planning major attacks.

A report in German newspaper Bild recently quoted a German security official as saying French, Italian and Spanish beaches are the most vulnerable.