PARIS – French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy will interrupt his vacation Thursday for an urgent meeting on security, after British authorities announced they had thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up several aircraft.
Sarkozy will head a closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon with the national police chief and top intelligence, counterintelligence and border officials at the ministry in Paris, his office said.
Air France canceled all Thursday morning flights to Heathrow airport after the announcement in London. An Air France spokeswoman said the cancellations were prompted because Heathrow was "saturated," and not because of any security concerns.
Officials at Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports and at the Interior Ministry would not comment on any additional security measures taken in France after the British announcement.
Heathrow airport, the busiest in Europe, was closed to most European flights Thursday morning, after British authorities uncovered a terrorist plot to blow up several aircraft in flight between the United States and Britain using explosives smuggled in hand luggage.
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