Three Suspected Al-Qaeda Members Arrested in Possible Bombing Attempt

Three suspected members of an al-Qaeda-influenced group that professes a "profound hatred of U.S. citizens" have been arrested on suspicions that they were plotting imminent, large scale bomb attacks in Germany, prosecutors said Wednesday.^[1]

German Federal Prosecutor Monika Harms asserted that the three suspects had trained at camps in Pakistan run by the Islamic Jihad Union, a group based in Central Asia.^[2] They allegedly had obtained some 700 kilograms of hydrogen peroxide for making explosives, which officials asserted, could have been mixed easily with other additives to produce a bomb with the explosive power of some 550 kilograms of TNT.^[3] "This would have enabled them to make bombs with more explosive power than the ones used in the London and Madrid bombings," Joerg Ziercke, the head of the Federal Crime Office - Germany's equivalent of the RCMP - said at a joint news conference with Harms.^[4] Harms declined to name specific targets, but said the suspects had an eye on institutions and establishments frequented by Americans in Germany, including discos, pubs and airports.^[5]

In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said German investigators had determined the Frankfurt International Airport and the nearby U.S. Ramstein Air Base were the primary targets of the plot.^[6]

Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said that President George W. Bush had been briefed on the arrests, and the President was "pleased a potential attack was thwarted and appreciates the work of the German authorities and the co-operation by international law enforcement."^[7]

The three suspects first came to the attention of authorities because they had been caught observing a U.S. military facility in Hanau, near Frankfurt, at the end of 2006, officials said.^[8] All three have allegedly undergone terrorist training at camps in Pakistan run by the Islamic Jihad Union, and used that training to form a German cell of the group.^[9]

Members of Germany's elite GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit arrested two suspects at a holiday home in central Germany on Tuesday, the third suspect was later apprehended about 300 metres away by federal police who had roped off the area.^[10]

German and U.S. officials have warned of the possibility of a terrorist attack, and security measures have been increased.^[11] Heretofore Germany, which did not send troops to Iraq, has been spared terrorist attacks like the train and subway bombings in Madrid and London - although its involvement in the attempt to stabilize Afghanistan has led to fears it might be targeted.^[12]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously written about weapons of mass destruction in his blog, here

---

^[1] AP Staff, German officials: 3 arrested for plotting attacks on U.S. facilities, Associated Press Newswire, September 5, 2007, available at available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services File.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Id.
^[9] The Islamic Jihad Union was described as a Sunni Muslim group based in Central Asia that was an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an extremist group with origins in that country.
^[10] AP Staff, supra note 1.
^[11] Id.
^[12] Ramstein is one of the best-known U.S. air force bases worldwide because it serves as a major conduit for U.S. troops moving in and out of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It is a key transit point for injured troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, including Canadians, who are flown there to be taken to nearby Landstuhl.