Terror threat

'Resurgent' al Qaeda looking to target planes in Europe, UK security minister warns

Terror group al Qaeda is "resurgent" and looking to carry out attacks on passenger planes in Europe, UK Security Minister Ben Wallace has warned.

In an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times, Wallace said al Qaeda -- the group behind the infamous World Trade Center attacks that killed almost 3,000 people in the US on September 11, 2001 -- "still aspire for aviation attacks" and is developing technology to bring down planes.

"The aviation threat is real," Wallace said in the interview on Saturday night. "(Al Qaeda) have reorganized. They are pushing more and more plots towards Europe and have become familiar with the new methods."

The rise of ISIS has overshadowed the al Qaeda threat in recent years -- particularly after its most prominent leader, Osama Bin Laden, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011.

But Wallace said the danger had never truly diminished.

"Al Qaeda sat quietly in the corner and tried to work out what the 21st century looked like while ISIS became the latest terrorist boy band," he said. "But they have not gone away."