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September 5, 2007

Germany: Islamist Terror Attack Averted

Following on from the arrests in Denmark on Monday night of individuals linked to Al Qaeda, the arrests of three people in Germany yesterday - again with alleged Al Qaeda links - indicates that the terror front has regathered and is active in Europe.

News is carried by AFP, Time, the Guardian, The Age, Radio Free Europe, UPI, CNN, BBC, Reuters, New York Times, FT etc.

Three men, two German nationals and one 29-year old Turk, were arrested yesterday during a series of 30 raids across Germany. The two Germans, aged 22 and 28, are converts to Islam. They are said to be members of the Islamic Jihad Union, an Al Qaeda-linked cell, according to Jorg Ziercke of Germany's Federal Criminal Investigation Office. The Islamic Jihad Union is an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

A press conference was arranged today by Monika Harms, the German federal prosecutor, who said that the trio had been planning "massive attacks". The attacks are thought to have included Ramstein air base and Frankfurt aiport, among other targets such as nightclubs and pubs used by Americans. Ramstein is used by the US military en route to Iraq. The suspects had amassed large quantities of hydrogen peroxide, which is the main component of triacetone triperoxide or TATP, the explosive substance which killed 52 people on London Transport on 7/7, 2005.

Ms Harms claimed that the three individuals had trained at terror camps in Pakistan, and had 1,500 lb of hydrogen peroxide. The group also had military-grade detonators. Jorg Ziecke said: "This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings," and he claimed that their links to Al Qaeda were "close".

The arrests of the three individuals came after a surveillance operation which had lasted 6 months and had involved 300 individuals. The three had been picked up in Oberschledorn in North-Rhine Westphalia, north of Frankfurt. The house they were in is said to have been rented for the express purpose of storing their explosives. They had been making preparations to leave when they were arrested. During the raid, one of the men grabbed a police gun and shot the officer in the hand. One of the suspects, 28-year old Munich-born Fritz Gelowicz, had come under surveillance radar after he had been seen possibly scouting the US military barracks in Hanau, near Frankfurt. He had been questioned.

As happened with the Operation Crevice plot, the authorities were so alarmed by the situation that they had broken into the store at Oberschledorn in July, replacing the hydrogen peroxide with a diluted substance. The plotters had apparently chosen to vacate the village house after they had been stopped at a routine police check, for having faulty headlights on their vehicle.

With the 9/11 anniversary coming up, it is a sensitive time. Germany is also about to debate extending its deployment of troops in Afghanistan.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said "It's another reminder that terrorists are still out there and willing to do harm to innocent people. And it's a reminder that we need to be vigilant in all of our efforts to find terrorists, deny them resources and hiding places, and prevent attacks. We appreciate the international effort, and the work of the German government in this case."

Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said: "Certainly we had very close cooperation with the German government in terms of their understanding of this and in terms of their investigation of it. So I think we have been full partners with them in terms of information sharing, though obviously the credit and the responsibility for having found these individuals and taken action against them, really belong to the Germans."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 5, 2007 4:42 PM

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