European Union leaders Thursday picked a skilled Dutch politician with no experience in terrorism issues as the bloc’s first anti-terror czar, moving to bolster the continent’s defense after a deadly Madrid train bombings this month killed 190 people.
Gijs de Vries will coordinate the EU’s foreign affairs and interior departments.
MORE MADRID ARRESTS: Spanish police arrested five more people Thursday in connection with the Madrid train bombings.
FRANCE RAIL THREATS: A group trying to blackmail France threatened an attack to surpass the Madrid bombings in a cryptic letter Thursday. But the group AZF also said in the letter it would temporarily halt bombing attempts to perfect its plans. The letter came a day after a bomb was found half-buried on a train track near Troyes.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Tran Ha (tha@tribune.com) and Drew Sottardi (dsottardi@tribune.com)
