GERMANY: Germann prosecutors said yesterday 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 11th attacks. In the UK, seven people were arrested by anti-terrorist police after a series of early morning raids across the UK.
German federal prosecutors based in Karlsruhe said in a statement they were questioning three men and searching six buildings, including the Islamic Centre 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 centres in Minden and Muenster.
"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 US 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 11th attacks, but no evidence linked the group in Minden and Muenster to the attacks.
Germany has been a focus of the investigation into the attacks on the World Trade Centre 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 11th plotter is under way in Hamburg. Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded the maximum possible jail term of 15 years for Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan charged with helping the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell.
Meanwhile, officers in the UK searched addresses in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Greater Manchester in what was described as a "carefully co-ordinated" operation led by Lothian and Borders Police.
Six men and one woman were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and taken for questioning to a secure location, understood to be Govan police station in Glasgow.
Deputy Chief Constable Tom Wood, operations director of Lothian and Borders Police, said: "This was a carefully co-ordinated operation which was executed successfully.
"Although searches of the addresses are continuing, it is important to stress that there has been no discovery of dangerous substances at this time.
"Our inquiries are continuing and reports will be sent to the procurator fiscal." Mr Wood said the arrests were connected with an ongoing case which was currently "active" in terms of the Contempt of Court Act, meaning no further details could be issued.
The Scottish First Minister, Mr Jack McConnell, said the arrests were a reminder that the public should be aware of the constant threat of terrorist activity.
"I am certain that people in Scotland can be confident that the police and security services are doing their job and are doing it well," he said. - (Reuters, PA)