German Police Searching For 10 In Possible Terrorist Attack
German authorities were searching Thursday for about 10 suspected supporters of an Islamic group linked to Al Qaeda believed to have assisted three militants arrested for plotting imminent attacks against Americans in Germany, an official said.
Authorities believed "some 10" further suspects provided support to the two German converts and a Turkish citizen who were arrested Tuesday, August Hanning, a top security official, told the ARD broadcaster.
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The three arrested suspects had military-style detonators and enough material to make bombs more powerful than those that killed 191 people in Madrid in 2004 and 52 commuters in London two years ago, prosecutors said Wednesday.
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In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official said German investigators had determined the Frankfurt International Airport and the nearby U.S. Ramstein Air Base were the primary targets of the plot, but that those arrested may have also been considering strikes on other sites, particularly facilities associated with the U.S.
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Germany's announcement was the second in two days that a major attack had been foiled in Europe, after Danish authorities arrested eight alleged Islamic militants with links to senior al-Qaida terrorists.
The German raids were launched after an intense, six-month investigation by 300 officers, who followed the suspects so closely that, at one point, police stealthily substituted a harmless alternate for the raw bomb material the suspects had collected, according to prosecutors.
