September 05, 2007
Three Terror Suspects Arrested In Germany
German officials arrested three men amid allegations that they were planning to bomb two high-profile targets: the Frankfurt International Airport and a U.S. air base in Ramstein.
Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three had trained at camps in Pakistan and obtained more than 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide that could be used for making explosives. Barrels of the chemical were allegedly stockpiled in the Black Forest and being relocated to a rented house when the men were taken into custody near the town of Oberschledorn, north of Frankfurt.
"They were planning massive attacks," Harms said, though she could not specifically confirm the Frankfurt and Ramstein plots reported by German media. German official Wolfgang Bosbach added that the attacks probably had been planned to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the United States.
Another German official said the amount of hydrogen peroxide "would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings." Hydrogen peroxide was used in the 2005 suicide bombings on the London transit system that killed more than 50 people; the Madrid subway bombings killed nearly 200 people in 2004.
Authorities said the attacks were "imminent" and that the suspects may have been eyeing other targets often frequented by Americans.
Names of the men have not been released, but two are German citizens and one is Turkish. All of them are in their 20s. One of the suspects may have been shot by police during the arrests, but details could not be confirmed.
The arrests come the day after explosives were found in a Copenhagen apartment. Eight suspects linked to al-Qaida were arrested; six of them have already been released.
