Two suspected members of the Al Qaeda network alleged to have planned a suicide attack in Iraq were arrested in Germany yesterday, the German Federal Attorney said here. Police in the western city of Mainz, where US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are due to meet in February, arrested a 29-year-old Iraqi identified only as Ibrahim Mohamed K., said Attorney-General Kay Nehm.Ibrahim Mohamed K. was strongly suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda, and was believed to have attended a training camp and had been in touch with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, Germany's top law officer told reporters. A second man, identified as Yasser Abu S. and described as a stateless person aged 31, was arrested in the former West German capital Bonn.
Nehm said Ibrahim Mohamed K. was understood to have settled in Germany in September 2002 in order to assemble financial and logistical support for Al Qaeda. With the aim of executing a suicide attack in Iraq, he had allegedly recruited Yasser Abu S., born in Libya but described as a stateless person, said Nehm whose federal department has charge of investigation into "terrorist" offences in Germany.
Nehm said Ibrahim K. had also allegedly planned to get a hold of 48 grammes of highly enriched uranium from a group in Luxembourg. Investigations were continuing, the attorney general said.ÂÂ