GERMANY: AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED TWO MEN SUSPECTED OF PLOTTING A SUICIDE ATTACK IN IRAQ
Record ID:
648044
GERMANY: AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED TWO MEN SUSPECTED OF PLOTTING A SUICIDE ATTACK IN IRAQ
- Title: GERMANY: AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED TWO MEN SUSPECTED OF PLOTTING A SUICIDE ATTACK IN IRAQ
- Date: 24th January 2005
- Summary: (EU) KARLSRUHE, GERMANY (JANUARY 23, 2005)(REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF FEDERAL PROSECUTORS OFFICE; SIGN OF PROSECUTORS OFFICE; SLV WAITING JOURNALISTS 0.15 2. MV GERMAN FEDERAL PROSECUTOR KAY NEHM ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE; NEHM SITTING DOWN; WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE; MEDIA 0.50 3. SOUNDBITE (German) NEHM SAYING: "The accused K (Ibrahim Mohamed K) spent some time at an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan before the attacks on September 11. During this time he visited Germany several times. After September11 he allegedly took part in battles between al Qaeda and U.S. troops in Afghanistan. During this time he had contact to Ramzi Binalshib, one of the members of the September11 attacks. He also had contact to the leadership of al Qaeda, among others also Osama bin Laden" 4. JOURNALISTS 5. SOUNDBITE (German) NEHM SAYING: "It was possible for the accused K. to recruit the other accused suspectS. (Yasser AbuS) to conduct a suicide bombing in Iraq. Before the suicide attackS. was supposed to attain a considerable amount of money through insurance fraud. This money was meant for his family as also for the financing of global jihad." 6. JOURNALISTS 7. SOUNDBITE (German) NEHM SAYING: "The connection to al Qaeda can also be proven because the suspect K. also sought to acquire nuclear material for al Qaeda. Approximately 48 grammes of enriched uranium were to be acquired from a Luxembourg group." 8. JOURNALISTS 9. SOUNDBITE (German) NEHM SAYING: "Because of the past and because of the order the suspect K. received from al Qaeda in Afghanistan, both suspects are to be seen as members of al Qaeda. However, there is no insight into whether either suspect has formed an independent al Qaeda cell in Germany with others that we do not know. Therefore we have limited the legal accusation to membership in a foreign terrorist group." 10. WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE; SCU NEHM; JOURNALISTS; MV NEHM WALKS AWAY 3.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 8th February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KARLSRUHE, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVAE0FSTSD3NI87XNVN44BK33BIY
- Story Text: German authorities have arrested two men suspected
of plotting a suicide attack in Iraq.
German authorities have arrested a suspected senior
al Qaeda member after raids and they say they have exposed
his plot with another suspect to carry out a suicide attack
in Iraq.
The federal prosecutors office on Sunday (January 23, 2005)
named the arrested men as Ibrahim Mohammed K, a 29-year-old
Iraqi believed to be a high-ranking al Qaeda figure and
Yasser Abu S, a 31-year-old stateless Palestinian.
Police raided four homes in the western cities of Mainz
and Bonn on Sunday morning. The men, both arrested in Mainz, are
accused of belonging to a foreign terrorist
organisation.
Both have been under surveillance since October.
Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm said in Karlsruhe the Iraqi
had recruited the second suspect in September 2004 as a
future suicide bomber in Iraq.
They planned to pretend that Yasser Abu S. had been
killed in a car accident in Egypt and claim 800,000 euros
from a life insurance policy to fund the suicide bombing
and other attacks.
Nehm said the first suspect had also sought to acquire
nuclear material for use in an attack.
Indeed, Nehm told a hastily arranged news conference
that the suspect had been in contact with a group in
Luxembourg which had nuclear material, but Nehm said it was
not suitable for a bomb.
Both men will be brought before an investigating judge
on Monday.
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