Western Resistance

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August 20, 2006

Germany: Lebanese Muslim Detained In Bomb Probe

We wrote on August 4 that two bombs were discovered on separate trains on Monday July 31 near Dortmund and Koblenz in Germany. The bomb on the Dortmund-bound train was defused after its discovery at the station platform, and it contained a canister of propane gas, timers, soft drinks bottles filled with an inflammable liquid and wires hidden inside a luggage bag. The bomb on the Koblenz-bound train was of a similar composition, and was similarly dismantled.

Prosecutor Ina Holznagel had stated of one of the bombs: "The contents were capable of severely injuring or even killing people"

According to the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, one of the bombs had contained a plastic bag printed with an Arabic script and a Beirut address. Now it is known that inside the Koblenz bomb, there was a note in Arabic with a Lebanese phone number. Also packets of starch inside the case bore Arabic and English labels. Yesterday, according to Reuters via Topix.net and AFP via Turkish Press and Yahoo a man was detained in connection with the devices. A second suspect is still at large.

The man apprehended was a 21-year old Lebanese Muslim, identified only as Yussef Mohammed E.H. He was arrested in a raid on the railway station at Kiel, where he tried to flee. He had been a student in the city.

His fingerprints and DNA had been identified from one of the suitcases containing the bombs, stated the federal prosecutor's office. He was transported by helicopter to Karlsruhe. The federal prosecuting officers there stated that the bombs, which had been timed to detonate at 2.30pm, 10 minutes before the respective stations, had failed to detonate because of a "technical error". If they had been detonated, they would caused "balls of fire".

He was placed in custody, charged with "attempted murder, belonging to a terrorist organisation and attempting to cause an explosion."

Today, it was revealed that a search has been made of the Kiel student dormitory where the man resided, but had found no explosives.

On Friday, before the suspect was arrested, Rainer Griesbaum, a federal prosecutor, had told the press: "We are now working on the basis that this was the work of a terrorist group based in Germany and that it was an attempt to kill a large number of people."

Late on Saturday, Germany's Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schaebule said on TV that the security situation in the country was "exceptionally serious". He said: "The threat has never been so close. We do not know what could still happen."

According to the newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the student had recently been to Lebanon when his brother had been killed in an air raid attack. One student has said he was "polite and friendly" and another had "very often spoken about religion."

He was captured after being recognised from closed circuit television pictures, which had been circulated in the German media. He was shown with another man while they had been in Cologne station.

There is currently a reward of 50,000 Euros ($64,000) for information which leads to the arrest of the men who planted the bombs.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 20, 2006 5:31 PM

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