Frankfurt airport attack foiled

2007-09-05 10:16

Berlin - Germany has arrested three men suspected of belonging to an Islamist terrorist group who were planning attacks on Frankfurt international airport and a major US military base, German officials said on Wednesday.

Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung told German television that the three had been planning to launch the attacks on their targets soon.

"There was an imminent security threat," Jung said, adding it was "very concrete".

"The security services have done a very good job and I can't say anything more at this point."

The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe said raids had been carried out in several German states.

"The German federal prosecutors office ordered the arrest yesterday afternoon of three suspected members of an Islamic terrorist organisation," it said in a statement.

Earlier, German public broadcast network Suedwestrundfunk (SWR) quoted security sources in Berlin as saying two of the suspects were German nationals and one had a Pakistani passport.

German television reported that explosive materials had been found in an apartment in a town in the northern state of Hesse. It said the planning was at an advanced stage.

Another German network reported that shots had been fired when police raided a house in a town in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

September 11 anniversary

"There are clear indications that at a minimum Ramstein and the Frankfurt airport were possible targets and that they would not have waited long to strike," leading conservative politician Wolfgang Bosbach told German television station N24.

He said the plot may have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

There was no comment from Frankfurt airport, one of Europe's busiest. The Ramstein base in the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate, 130km southwest of the airport, is one of the most important US air bases overseas.

The arrests come a day after Danish police conducted raids and took eight young Muslims into custody whom they suspect of plotting a bomb attack and having links with al-Qaeda.

Germany, which has forces stationed in Afghanistan, has been on high alert for attacks. The country has feared a re-emergence of militant Islamic groups since 2001, when the northern city of Hamburg was used as a base for planning the September 11 attacks.

- Reuters