 Agency Warns of Terror Plot On guard: A machine gun in front of a sign pointing the way for "other visitors" at the trial on Tuesday in Frankfurt of five Algerians charged with plotting an attack in Strasbourg, France, last Christmas. The men are believed to belong to the Qaida terrorist network. (Photo: AP)
By Udo Ulfkotte FRANKFURT. German law enforcement officials have launched an intensive search for three people who they suspect are part of a three-country operation to seize hundreds of hostages in an attempt to free members of the Qaida terrorist network being held in Europe, according to a confidential police statement. If authorities fail to give in to the demands, the terrorists are prepared to kill themselves and their hostages with bombs, according to the statement, circulated on Tuesday by the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation, Germany's equivalent of the FBI. In response to a report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the statement, the office said on Friday evening that it did not have concrete indications about an upcoming terrorist attack. Instead, the office said investigators were pursuing general information about the planning of such an attack. The existence of the confidential statement emerged three days after German police conducted a sweep against a suspected Palestinian terrorist group, Al Tawhid (Divine Unity). On Thursday, nine of the people arrested in the raids were ordered held on suspicion of planning attacks in Germany. The three people suspected in the hostage operation have been identified only as "Schah Ahmad Pergham," "Raschid" and "Nisa." "We are under heavy pressure," one official said of the search for the three. They are suspected of being part of an operation planned for Germany, France and Britain "within the next 20 days," according to the statement. Officials said they suspected that 30 suicide terrorists from Iran, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan were posed to strike in the three Europe countries, seizing 300 to 400 hostages in each nation. Officials said they were unsure where such mass hostage seizures could be carried out. But they suggested that church services and large movie theaters could be targeted because they are difficult to secure. The statement said authorities suspected that the operation was being financed by a Los Angeles resident, Zia Hal Mundi, who reportedly has offered to pay the families of each potential suicide terrorist $100,000. In a separate investigation, German security authorities also have received information that about 20 Germans of Turkish ancestry have undergone terrorist training in Muslim countries over the past few months and may be planning to carry out attacks in Germany. In an attempt to crack down on terrorism, the German parliament on Friday expanded a law governing the prosecution of such cases. The change allows the trial of people in Germany who belong to or support terrorist groups outside the country. In the past, the law covered only the organization of terrorist groups within Germany. Apr. 26 |