Carla Bruni 'high up on Al Qaeda’s hit list’

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London: Security around France's First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy has been tightened up amid fears that she may be the 'priority target' of a terrorist assassination plot.

Security services believe President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife is now 'high up' on Al Qaeda's hitlist of potential VIP victims in France, it was revealed.

Fears for Bruni's safety come after Osama bin Laden issued a chilling personal threat to kill French citizens in revenge for France backing the war in Afghanistan and their new law banning the burqa.

The Al Qaeda terror chief released an audio tape last week warning, “It is a simple equation, If you kill, you will be killed.”

France's Pure People website said it had information that the Presidential Protection Team had now received further 'credible intelligence' that the threat to the couple had increased.

“Security has always been high around the First couple, but we have learned that it has now been heavily increased around Ms Bruni herself,” the Daily Mail quoted the website as saying.

“There is no question of her ever going out without an armed escort and details of all her movements are being kept secret until the very last moment.

“Her schedule is randomly changed and even her family and friends are not being told where she is going until she arrives. From now on, neither will she travel in the same car or other means of transport as her husband,” the website added.

Bruni's immediate family were also being given extra security details, the website said.

It added, “Their movements and whereabouts are being kept secret at all times.

“It is inconvenient for Ms Bruni and her loved ones, but the security services believe these drastic measures are currently necessary for their safety.”

The security alert comes a month after France's domestic intelligence cheif Bernard Squarcini warned that the recent burqa ban had 'seriously increased' the threat of a major terrorist attack on French soil and that 'all the red lights were flashing'.