AL-QAEDA IS GREATEST THREAT TO ATHENS OLYMPICS-GREEK COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

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SOCHI (RUSSIA), May 20 (RIA Novosti) - The greatest threat to the Summer 2004 Olympic Games in Athens is posed by the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, Serafim Tsitsimpis, head of the counterintelligence unit at Greece's National Intelligence Service, said to the media Thursday. He is currently in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, attending an international conference of special services, security agencies, and law-enforcement bodies.

"The greatest threat to the Olympics in Greece is coming from elements of Islamic terrorism, from Al-Qaeda in the first place," Mr Tsitsimpis said. According to him, this conclusion has been made not only by Greek special services, but by foreign counterparts, as well. But Greek intelligence has no specific information on Al-Qaeda threats, he added.

Mr Tsitsimpis said he was going to deliver a report on Athens Olympics security at the Sochi conference and that in this report he would review the security situation in his country ahead of the Games.

Mr Tsitsimpis heads the 2004 Athens Olympics security committee.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov pointed out, for his part, that Bulgarian special services saw the current Sochi conference on security as a highly important event. Terrorism is becoming a global phenomenon now, so "if we want to combat it effectively, we must cooperate and interact very closely with special services across the world," he underlined.

Bulgarian special services are trying their hardest to prevent terror attacks in their country, Mr Petkanov said. The security measures being taken in Bulgaria are of international importance as some of the Athens Olympics participants and guests will be staying here during the Games and many others will pass through, he said. The minister went on to stress the importance of preventive measures, saying that Bulgarian security agencies would be sharing intelligence with their Greek counterparts.

Istvan Zsohar, head of Hungary's National Security Office, gave a positive appraisal to Hungarian special services' cooperation with Russian counterparts in recent years, specifically in areas such as terrorism, organized crime, and money laundering.

Security of Olympic Games has been a matter of serious concern since Islamic militants' terror attack during the 1972 Munich Olympics, Mr. Zsohar said. Eleven Israeli athletes were killed in that attack.

"I'm not scared of terrorist acts and I don't think of them," Russian boxer Oleg Saitov, a two-time Olympic champion, said in a RIA interview. "It's not us who should think of terrorists, but security services." "I've never dwelled on that," judo champion Tamerlan Tmenov confessed. He said his thoughts were now focused on Olympic victory, not Olympic security. "Whether it be during Olympic Games or otherwise, no city of the world is immune to terrorism these days," the athlete remarked.

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