WARSAW, July 21 (AFP) - Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka was meeting the special services on Wednesday after a group claiming links with Al-Qaeda threatened a terrorist attack unless it withdrew its troops from Iraq, parliamentary speaker Jozef Oleksy said.
"The prime minister is taking part in a meeting of the (governmental) committee of the special services," Oleksy told a news conference.
The move came after a group calling itself the "Al-Qaeda organisation in Europe" in a website statement threatened Bulgaria and Poland with attacks unless they withdrew their troops from Iraq.
The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.
The hitherto unknown group demanded that Poland and "especially its Prime Minister Marek Belka, pull out invading Polish troops or pay the price, like what happened in Spain".
"Withdraw your troops from Iraq or we will make you hear the sound of explosions," it said.
Poland, one of Washington's staunchest supporters in the Iraq war, has a contingent that patrols a large swathe of the country south of Baghdad, heading a 6,500-strong multinational force including 2,500 Polish troops.
Bulgaria has 470 soldiers in Iraq, serving under Polish command at the Shiite holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad.