GERMANY: POLICE IN DARMSTADT SEARCHED APARTMENT AFTER IT EMERGED THAT A SUSPECT IN THE MADRID TRAIN BOMBING LIVED THERE.

Record ID: 584781

  • Title: GERMANY: POLICE IN DARMSTADT SEARCHED APARTMENT AFTER IT EMERGED THAT A SUSPECT IN THE MADRID TRAIN BOMBING LIVED THERE.
  • Date: 26th March 2004
  • Summary: (EU) DARMSTADT, GERMANY (MARCH 26, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: EXTERIORS OF APPARTMENT BUILDING WHICH WAS SEARCHED. (4 SHOTS) 0.34 2. CU: OF STAIRCASE / PAN: TO BOARDED UP DOOR TO APARTMENT. 0.47 3. CU: BOARDED UP DOOR TO APARTMENT. 0.52 4. CU: DAMAGE ON FLOOR. 0.56 5. WS: OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING INSTITUTE AT DARMSTADT UNIVERSITY. 1.02 6. CU: OF SIGN. 1.07 7. VARIOUS: EXTERIOR VIEWS OF UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS. (2 SHOTS) 1.24 (EU) KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. VARIOUS: EXTERIORS OF GERMAN PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE. (3 SHOTS) 1.39 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DARMSTADT AND KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVABA76SO8HNTT8US9PXIJJR7V03
  • Story Text: German police have searched an apartment in the
    western city of Darmstadt after it emerged that a suspect
    in the Madrid train bombings lived there.



    Prosecutors refused to give details of the raid late
    Thursday (March 25), which marked a new twist in efforts to
    track the suspected Islamist militants behind the March 11
    attacks that killed at least 190 people.

    Despite feverish speculation in German media, security
    sources said it was premature to jump to the conclusion
    that the bombings may have partly been planned in Germany.

    In 2001, the country was shocked to learn that three of
    the suicide hijackers who led the September 11 attacks on
    the United States had lived and studied in the port city of
    Hamburg.

    Since then, security services have stepped up their
    scrutiny of several hundred suspected Islamist radicals
    believed to be living in Germany.

    Spain also had links to the 9/11 attacks. Investigators
    believe the lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, attended a
    planning meeting there in July 2001, and a Spanish judge
    has indicted 35 suspects in connection with the plot.

    Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily said on Friday (March 26)
    the Darmstadt apartment had been occupied by a man,
    believed to be Moroccan, who had registered in 2003 to
    study electronics at the university there.

    He was one of five more people arrested in Spain in
    recent days, bringing the total number of suspects in
    custody to 18.

    Investigators are trying to unravel a tangle of
    potential connections linking some of those held to known
    Islamist radicals across Europe and North Africa.

    Investigators believe the attacks were carried out by a
    group linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network,
    although they are far from concluding who ordered and
    masterminded it.

    Two statements claiming responsibility on behalf of al
    Qaeda were issued in the first few days after the bombings.

    European security sources say Islamist radicals in a
    number of countries are in constant contact with each
    other. They have also uncovered evidence that such groups
    are recruiting volunteers to fight the U.S.-led occupation
    of Iraq.




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