RANKFURT, April 16 — Evidence continued to accumulate today in Germany and elsewhere that the deadly explosion on Thursday at a historic synagogue in Tunisia was an attack rather than an accident, despite Tunisia's assertions to the contrary.
In Duisberg, Germany, federal investigators arrested and later released a man they said was suspected of having received a telephone call from the driver of the propane-filled truck that set off the explosion. At least 16 people died, including 11 German tourists.
Two London-based Arabic newspapers published front-page reports today saying a group with possible links to Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden's network, had taken responsibility for the explosion.
The newspapers, Al Quds Al Arabi and Al Hayat, said a group calling itself the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Sites had taken responsibility. A group using the same name claimed responsibility for the bombings of the American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
German criminal investigators and top political leaders say they are angry at the Tunisian government's insistence that the explosion was an accident. The synagogue is a historic Jewish site on Djerba island, and even though Tunisian officials have reluctantly begun to admit that the explosion may have been a result of terrorism, German officials strongly suspect that the government is trying to cover up evidence of an attack to protect its tourist trade.
On Monday night, German police officers searched five apartments around Duisberg and arrested a man they believed had received a call from either the driver or the passenger in the truck. Late this afternoon, after a brief court hearing, the government released the man because they did not have enough evidence to hold him as a suspect.
But Germany's federal prosecutor said there was increasing evidence that the explosion was intentional, and German investigators are now in Djerba. Last week, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder expressed dismay that Tunisian authorities were trying to repair the synagogue so quickly, because the repairs might destroy evidence in the investigation.
Apparently in an effort to increase pressure on Tunisia, Germany's interior minister, Otto Schily, is planning a trip there in the next few days.
The German police remained extremely vague about the details of their investigation thus far. Today, they said only that they had received a tip from Tunisian authorities that a person in the truck had called a person in Germany just a few hours before the truck blew up.
This was the man who was arrested and then freed. The police also refused to supply any information about the man, though some news agencies reported today that he was a German citizen.
French newspapers reported today that the driver of the truck and his family lived in Lyon. Alain Tourre, a spokesman for the French national police, said today that "there is a name that's been communicated to us by Tunisian authorities" and that "we are in the process of investigating."
Tunisian officials said originally that the explosion occurred after a truck loaded with propane cooking gas careered against a wall just outside the synagogue.
Since then, investigators and witnesses have cast doubt on that explanation: the wall that was supposedly hit showed no sign of damage and the government-run Tunisian African Press Agency quoted witnesses who said the driver had ignored a police signal to stop. But other witnesses have said the truck was parked near the synagogue and not moving at all.
