Western intelligence officials have reportedly uncovered an Al Qaeda plot to carry out coordinated Mumbai-style terrorist attacks in major cities in Britain, France, Germany, and possibly the United States, according to unnamed counterterrorism and intelligence sources in Western governments, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

The would-be attackers reportedly planned to operate in small teams of heavily armed gunmen who would capture and execute Western hostages in Europe, similar to the attacks carried out in Mumbai in 2008 where 10 gunmen killed 166 people and injured more than 300 more.

Al Qaeda militants in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan were said to be planning the attack. In an attempt to thwart them, Western authorities say they have been targeting the planners in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner said the attack had recently moved from the “aspirational stage to actual planning.” Britain's Sky News, citing unnamed sources, said the plan was "in an advanced but not imminent stage."

Germany's Interior Ministry released a statement today saying it was aware of information pointing toward the possible attacks, but it was not changing its terrorism threat level. "At present there are no concrete pointers to imminent attacks in Germany stemming from this. The current pointers do not warrant a change in the assessment of the danger level," the ministry said, according to Reuters.

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