LONDON :  A few stories out of Europe today illustrate well the shifting and fragmented nature of the terror threat in the West.

The first two come from France. We’re told the French government is on “red alert” following word late last week that a female suicide bomber was possibly aiming to target Paris’ Metro system. She is said to come from North Africa home to one of the more dangerous Al Qaeda offshoots.

“The threat is real,” says France’s Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux. “Our vigilance is reinforced.”

While cynics say this is yet another way for embattled French President Nicholas Sarkozy to distract attention from his political woes, added police details and on-going investigations point to something potentially dangerous.

Also from France word that rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, and one of the highest-profile Muslim leaders in Europe, Dalil Boubakeur, is now being guarded by three security officials. It is believed not to be in response to a specific threat, more to head off danger considering his moderate tone.

Just two weeks ago we interviewed Boubakeur. He told us, for example, the backers of the so-called Ground Zero mosque should move the Islamic center elsewhere so as not to provoke violence. He has long spoken out against the 9/11 attacks and terrorism.

Meanwhile, authorities in Amsterdam continue to hold a Briton of Somali origin taken off a flight from Liverpool, U.K .heading to Entebbe, Uganda. They’re quoted as saying they’re “…trying to determine whether the man belongs to a foreign terrorist organization.”

That organization could be Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda-linked outfit causing problems in Somalia and just now beginning to move outside of those borders. Our contact in Holland tells us the arrest followed a tip-off from the U.K. Authorities there just last week warned against the growing threat from that Somali based outfit.

Finally back in the U.K., the six people arrested Friday for a suspected terror attack against the Pope are now free. There are believed to be all North African and security was beefed up firmly for the remainder of the trip.

In fact the U.K. paper the Daily Mirror is now reporting the group was arrested after a manager overheard them joking about how easy it would be to assassinate the Pope. Considering risks facing the Pope and other high profile figures, police here decided they couldn’t take a chance.

Which brings us back to what this says about the terror threat out there. It’s no longer a monolithic, Usama Bin Laden-orchestrated, Al Qaeda-central type of danger. It is more splinter groups, lone operatives, or just plain whackos.

It’s turned what nine years ago with the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center seems like it could be a full-fledged traditional war against extremist forces into a series of more guerrilla-style counter-attacks.

The good news is an attack on the scale of 9/11 is deemed unlikely. But also unlikely, that officials will be rid of dealing with a more targeted but still dangerous extremist enemy any time soon.