U.S. Warns of Terrorist Threats

Terrorists could be planning an attack on a passenger ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea or an aircraft in Europe or the Middle East, the State Department said Friday night.

A statement from the department’s deputy spokesman, Richard Boucher, said that “the risk of acts of international terrorism in Europe and the Middle East is increasing.”

He said the department had received “specific and credible” information about a threat to ships in the eastern Mediterranean and added, “Such an operation may be undertaken at any time. . . . We note that civil aviation remains a particular target.”

The department issued its warning at an unusual hour, after 8 p.m. Friday, in part because “it’s important that we share the threat information with the American people as they plan their travel,” spokesman Adam Shub said.

Terrorists have attacked ships before. In December, 1985, a group led by Palestinian radical Abul Abbas hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro as it left an Egyptian port, holding it for two days before surrendering. An American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, was shot to death by one of the hijackers.