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| Europe |
| Germany Holds Three Men Suspected of Attack Plans |
| 2003-02-06 |
| German prosecutors said on Thursday they were questioning three men suspected of planning extremist attacks in Germany and of supporting the al Qaeda cell in Hamburg which launched the September 11, 2001 attacks. Federal prosecutors based in Karlsruhe said in a statement they were questioning three men and searching six buildings, including the Islamic Center in the western town of Muenster and the Islamic Community building in central Minden. The prosecutors said two of the men were suspected of forming a group with the aim of launching attacks. The third man was suspected of supporting the group. All three were leading members of the Islamic centers in Minden and Muenster. Humm, my surprise meter must be still broken "The searches carried out today serve the goal of finding further evidence about the existence, structure and objectives of the association and its integration in an international network of violent Islamic fundamentalists," the statement said. The prosecutors said the group was suspected of considering attacks in Germany at the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, including on U.S. buildings in Frankfurt. "Two of the...accused are suspected of forming a group based in Minden and Muenster with other persons in order to commit attacks on the basis of an aggressive, militant Islamic fundamentalism," the statement said. Prosecutors also suspected one of the men had supported the al Qaeda cell based in Hamburg which is believed to have provided three of the suicide pilots in the September 11 attacks on the United States, but no evidence linked the group in Minden and Muenster to the attacks on New York and Washington. Germany has been a focus of the investigation into the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon since it was discovered that three of the suicide hijackers had lived and studied for years in the northern port of Hamburg. The first trial anywhere of an alleged September 11 plotter is underway in Hamburg. Prosecutors Wednesday demanded the maximum possible jail term of 15 years for Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan charged with helping the Hamburg al Qaeda cell. Five Algerian men are also on trial in Germany suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda network. Four of the five are charged with planning to bomb a Christmas market in Strasbourg, France. Well, at least Germany hasn't stopped this part of the war. |
| Posted by:Steve |