国际英语新闻：France tightens security measures after Bin Laden threats

PARIS, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- France has decided to tighten security measures after Bin Laden threatened to kill French people for its government's support of the war in Afghanistan and banning Muslim full-covered veils, Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Wednesday

"A particular decision was made to strengthen, in partnership with a number of involved states, the screening of passengers traveling to our country," the minister told deputies.

Hortefeux said the threat is real and requires vigilance to frustrate any potential attack.

On Monday, the Greek police intercepted several parcel bombs sent by air mail to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and others addressed to the embassies of Belgium and the Netherlands.

"Our vigilance is total. We work with our allies -- I would not even say on a daily basis -- but hour by hour. We exchange information, we pass our information and we try to align our responses," Sarkozy said Tuesday in London at the sidelines of his meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Sarkozy headed a meeting on terrorism threats Wednesday in Paris, attended by the concerned government officials to assess the situation and outline the adequate ways to fight terrorism attacks.

In an audio tape broadcast last week by the Qatar-based television channel Al Jazeera, Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatened to kill French people to revenge French government's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and its new law banning Muslim full-covered veils.

Bin Laden said the kidnapping of five French nationals in Niger in the previous month was prompted for what he said was France's unjust treatment of Muslims.