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Police is Switzerland have warned that al-Qa’eda sympathisers could be planning a terrorist strike on the Euro 2008 football championships.

Islamic militants have called for terrorist attacks during the tournament next month in messages posted on jihadist websites, said police in Geneva.

The championships in Switzerland and Austria start on June 7. The Swiss federal police spokesman, Juerg Buehler, told the newspaper La Liberte that the tournament “is a target cited by the Islamist terrorist network” on websites.

“We are following the situation very closely,” he said.

He told La Liberte that similar threats were made before the World Cup in Germany in 2006, and that some attacks were planned against the rail network but were called off because security was considered too tight.

“We are prepared for every eventuality,” he said.

In later comments, a Swiss police spokesman said that there was no “concrete” threat yet.

“Any big event like Euro 2008 could be a target of choice for terrorists … but there are no concrete elements right now that would lean one to fear any specific danger.”

No extremist group has given any specific indication that it will target the football championships, police added.

“It is clear however that how things develop in the coming weeks and months in global hotspots could have security repercussions at home,” the statement said.

La Liberte said appeals for attacks had grown on websites known to be used by al-Qa’eda followers and other militant groups.

It acknowledged that Switzerland is widely accused of Islamophobia in the Muslim world, notably because of opposition to the construction of mosque minarets in several Swiss cities.

Austria could be a target because of the presence of its troops in the international force in Afghanistan.

Counter-terrorism experts say Islamist forums regularly carry threats of attacks which have to be studied, though few are to be taken seriously.

Source: telegraph.co.uk/