Posted on 09/05/2007 4:59:10 PM PDT by American Master Warlord
Police have smashed a suspected al Qaeda terror cell nursing a "profound hatred of US citizens" plotting to bomb civilian and military jets.
The force of the planned explosions would have been worse than the train bombings in Madrid and the Tube and bus attacks in London on 7 July, 2005, according to German security sources. Those attacks killed 191 and 52 people respectively.
Three men aged 22, 28 and 29 have been arrested in Germany days before they planned to strike, and bomb-making equipment and explosives have been seized.
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. No direct link has yet been established between the two plots.
Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three suspects had bought 700kg (1,500lbs) of hydrogen peroxide to make massive bombs. She said: "We have prevented what we believe would have been the worst terror attacks ever on German soil".
She 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.
Citing unnamed security sources in Berlin, the broadcaster Suedwestfunk said Frankfurt International Airport and US Ramstein Air Base were among targets.
Joerg Ziercke, the head of Germany's federal crime office, said the men had a "profound hatred of US citizens".
German security sources have reportedly said the men belonged to the Islamic Jihad, an Egyptain terrorist group that merged with al Qaeda in 2001.
Wolfgang Bosbach, an MP with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the plot may have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 2001 atrocities in the US.
Franz Josef Jung, the defence minister, said: "The attacks were planned for the near future. They presented a real threat to life."
The suspects are believed to have been planning simultaneous attacks on aircraft sitting on the ground. Security services had been watching them for six months until yesterday, when the investigators spontaneously made the arrests after the men were observed moving chemicals from one storage location to another.
As is customary in Germany, the suspects have only been identified by their first names and last initials. Daniel S comes from the Saarland, Fritz G from Ulm in Bavaria and Adem Y from Turkey, although there are reports that he holds a Pakistani passport. The two Germans are 22 and 28, while Adem Y is 29.
The men were arrested yesterday as two dozen raids took place across Germany. They are believed to have been detained in the Frankfurt area.
One of those held, Fritz G, put up a fight when police raided the men's house in the Frankfurt area. He escaped through a bathroom window and managed to reach an outer cordon of officers about 300 metres away before being aprehended. He was able to snatch a gun, which went off, from a policeman. No one was hurt.
A German network reported that shots had been fired when police raided a house in a town in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Germans are converts to Islam. At least one of the men is reported to have received terrorist training overseas.
The German intelligence service is said to have learned of the plot through emails.
The suspects are reported to have confessed. Security services are trawling their contacts to make sure there are no back-up teams.
Ramstein serves as America's main logistical base to service the war in Iraq. Germany has ground troops in Afghanistan.
"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, adding the attacks could have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of September 11.
Police believe that the men wanted to experiment in the coming days and weeks with the chemicals and possibly start building a bomb. They were, however, far away from making a bomb that could be detonated.
A "bomb factory" is said to have been found in the village of Oberschledorn in the Sauerland. Locals said undercover police had been watching the house from a caravan.
Captain Jeff Gradeck, a spokesman for the US European Command (EUCOM) in Stuttgart, said: "We don't have any information yet that US facilities were targeted."
There was no comment from Frankfurt airport, one of Europe's busiest. The Ramstein base in the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate, 130 km (80 miles) southwest of the airport, is one of the most important US air bases overseas.
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.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors charged a Lebanese man held in detention over an unsuccessful attempt to detonate bombs on two trains in Germany in 2006.
He and another suspect were caught on surveillance cameras wheeling suitcases containing bombs aboard trains at Cologne's main railway station.
Both men left suitcases on the trains, which they planned to detonate later in the day with a timed explosive device. Despite being activated, the bombs failed to go off because of a technical error, the prosecutor's office said.
The United States terrorist list should look like this. !!!!!!!!!!!!-ISLAM-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Needed repeating!
“A “bomb factory” is said to have been found in the village of Oberschledorn in the Sauerland. Locals said undercover police had been watching the house from a caravan.”
The locals knew, but said nothing. Imagine if the NYT had gotten the tip.
It’s been said we’ve stopped around 35 terrorist attacks on US soil. It’s also being said, the terrorist are at the end of their planning stage and a SE US city is their target. So the 11th could very well be their target date.
Speaking of anniversaries, CBET television which is an affiliate of CBC Canada chose tonight to air the M. Moore propaganda film, Fahrenheit 911. It’s airing as I type. I sent an email to the CBC and pointed out that the bulk of this film has been discredited and if the political climate of today were present during WWII, they would have gleefully aired the works of Leni Reisenthal. I also said it was particularly unfortunate given that a bomb plot against Americans has just been broken up in Germany.
Yes, Islam. Terrorist tactic is coming legally into the USA under Christian and Jewish names...when undercovered Islam will say see it’s the christians and the jews that did this.
Sounds like a bunch of home grown wannabes
That is scary
bad enough you have to worry about the real thing now you have to worry about imitators
Per your post, I briefly tuned to the CBC affiliate out of Toronto which we get on our cable service, since we’re in a border town (Buffalo), and noted this trash was on. A few minutes of watching confirmed this suspicion.
Good luck with your e-mail, I doubt though that it will faze the media bureaucrats. (And I love Canadians! ;)
How about some of that old-time German interrogation.....
Good news. Don’t forget that the buttercup John Edwards thinks the War on Terror is a bumper sticker slogan.
‘profound hatred of US citizens’
Boo Hoo, and back to them.
Why is that crooked fool Reid even in the Senate?
In spite of that, and in the interests of national survival, they should be taken outside in front of a firing squad and executed as soon as possible.
Behold the face of a traitorous Liberal schmuck! Makes me want to throw up. Reid, Pelosi, Hitlery, and the rest of the Liberal morons in DC never met a terrorist they didn’t feel sorry for. Wonder if their game plan of appeasement and surrender would have worked on these terrorists? Making nice would certainly have changed their minds about blowing up US targets in Europe.
I know some of those guys. They are very good at what they do. I hope our guys are getting some good info from this.........
Sounds like top-shelf intel and investigative work. Many int’l agencies no doubt. Thanks guys!!
My spidey sense tells me it aint over yet. Something is up. You can almost feel it.
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