BBC
29 September 2010 Last updated at 10:45 GMT
It is understood the plan involves small teams of militants seizing hostages and murdering them, similar to the attacks in Mumbai in 2008.
Intelligence officials believe the plot was inspired by the al-Qaeda leadership in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan. Sources say recent US drone attacks in the region have targeted the planners.
The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said the plot was believed to have moved from the aspirational stage to actual planning. Western security agencies may have been hoping to keep the matter out of the public realm for longer so criminal evidence could be gathered, our correspondent added, but initial details were leaked to the US media.
However, in the UK, no imminent arrests are expected, and the national threat level remains at its current level of severe.
In an effort to foil the attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has ramped up missile strikes from unmanned drones against militants in the Pakistani tribal regions, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing security officials.
The US has carried out at least 20 drone strikes so far this month in Pakistan's tribal areas - the highest monthly total for the past six years, US media reported. Earlier this week, reports from the area said a senior al-Qaeda leader - Sheikh Fateh al-Masri - had been killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan.
Security expert and former CIA officer Robert Baer told the BBC's World Today programme he believed the the latest threat to the West may be linked to the US-led attacks on Haqqani insurgents - allies of the Taliban in Waziristan.
"I think what we are facing here is a reprisal from the Haqqani network against the United States and Britain for the stepped-up aerial campaign in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
"You have to look at the way these people look at the world. It is very tribal. They think they are in a feud with the West. They don't understand why they are under attack and they intend to take revenge."
Last week, the US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano warned there was "increased activity by a more diverse set of groups and a more diverse set of threats... directed at the West generally". She is due to meet her European counterparts at a UN aviation security meeting in Montreal this week.
In the UK, the national threat remains at severe, where it has been since January, meaning a terrorist attack is thought highly likely. But government officials say there are no plans to raise it to the highest level of critical, and they do not expect to see an imminent wave of arrests.
France and Germany are both on a heightened state of security alert. Germany said on Wednesday that it was aware of a "long-term" aim by al-Qaeda to attack Western targets, but it had no evidence of any "concrete" plans. It said its security alert level was unchanged.
In the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, 10 gunmen went on a three-day rampage, killing 166 people and injuring more than 300. (bbc)
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France has recently beefed up security outside its national landmarks
Western intelligence sources say they have uncovered a plot by al-Qaeda to carry out co-ordinated attacks in the UK, France and Germany.
Intelligence officials believe the plot was inspired by the al-Qaeda leadership in the remote tribal areas of Pakistan. Sources say recent US drone attacks in the region have targeted the planners.The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner said the plot was believed to have moved from the aspirational stage to actual planning. Western security agencies may have been hoping to keep the matter out of the public realm for longer so criminal evidence could be gathered, our correspondent added, but initial details were leaked to the US media.
However, in the UK, no imminent arrests are expected, and the national threat level remains at its current level of severe.
In an effort to foil the attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has ramped up missile strikes from unmanned drones against militants in the Pakistani tribal regions, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing security officials.
Security expert and former CIA officer Robert Baer told the BBC's World Today programme he believed the the latest threat to the West may be linked to the US-led attacks on Haqqani insurgents - allies of the Taliban in Waziristan.
"I think what we are facing here is a reprisal from the Haqqani network against the United States and Britain for the stepped-up aerial campaign in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
"You have to look at the way these people look at the world. It is very tribal. They think they are in a feud with the West. They don't understand why they are under attack and they intend to take revenge."
Last week, the US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano warned there was "increased activity by a more diverse set of groups and a more diverse set of threats... directed at the West generally". She is due to meet her European counterparts at a UN aviation security meeting in Montreal this week.
In the UK, the national threat remains at severe, where it has been since January, meaning a terrorist attack is thought highly likely. But government officials say there are no plans to raise it to the highest level of critical, and they do not expect to see an imminent wave of arrests.
France and Germany are both on a heightened state of security alert. Germany said on Wednesday that it was aware of a "long-term" aim by al-Qaeda to attack Western targets, but it had no evidence of any "concrete" plans. It said its security alert level was unchanged.
In the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, 10 gunmen went on a three-day rampage, killing 166 people and injuring more than 300. (bbc)
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