Berlin: The United States has told Germany that evidence pulled from Osama bin Laden's hideout shows the terror chief was linked to a plot to attack targets in Europe last year, a senior German official has told The Associated Press.
Two US officials also told the AP that bin Laden had advised Europe-based militants to attack in unspecified mainland European countries just before Christmas. The officials offered no details.
Separately, bin Laden encouraged multiple attacks on Danish targets because of disparaging references to the Muslim prophet Mohammed in Danish media, the US officials said.
European security officials said earlier this month that they'd seen very little of the information from the May 2 raid on bin Laden's hideout, but the Americans have begun sharing more information with intelligence agencies in Europe.
The German official said US officials had told their German counterparts that information retrieved from the Pakistani house where bin Laden was killed shows that senior al-Qaeda member Sheikh Yunis al Mauritania was in contact with bin Laden about the Europe plot.
A 29-year-old Moroccan terror suspect was arrested last month in the German city of Duesseldorf with letters between him and al Mauritania about planned terror attacks in Europe, the official told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
He and other European security officials said they have not seen evidence to suggest that bin Laden was involved in planning the attacks.
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