Germans concerned about airport attack

German security services are concerned that terrorists could try to shoot down a civilian aircraft, a newspaper reported today, citing a confidential security report and an intelligence official.

Bild newspaper said it had obtained a copy of a report by the Criminal Office in the western state of Hesse outlining how members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network might bring down an airliner in Germany.

Terrorists could use heat-seeking, ground-to-air missiles or an unmanned drone aircraft carrying explosives to down a jetliner during takeoff or landing, the report said, according to Bild.

Frankfurt Airport, continental Europe's largest, is in Hesse state.

While the report said security agencies had no evidence of al-Qaida operatives in Germany possessing such weapons, the newspaper also cited an unidentified official at the Federal Intelligence Service warning against underestimating the danger.