Residents relieved after man suspected of planning bomb attack arrested

Record ID: 84460

  • Title: Residents relieved after man suspected of planning bomb attack arrested
  • Date: 10th October 2016
  • Summary: LEIPZIG, GERMANY (OCTOBER 10, 2016) (REUTERS) HARTRIEGELSTR STREET WHERE SUSPECT JABER ALBAKR WAS FOUND IN APARTMENT (SOUNDBITE) (German) NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENT, LEONIE ROT, SAYING: "I approached the window and I saw the helicopter, and I was scared because there was a helicopter flying around and then I could hear police sirens everywhere." WOMAN ON APARTMENT BALCONY WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (German) NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENT, LEONIE ROT, SAYING: "Well, I think it is good, better than this guy still running around the area." NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENT, MARTINA KUSCHNIK, WALKING DOWN STREET WITH DOG (SOUNDBITE) (German) NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENT, MARTINA KUSCHNIK, SAYING: "The helicopter woke me up in the night, then my son told me there was also a lot of police around, there must be something happening. Then, since I knew about the situation in Chemnitz, I kind of gathered that something is going on here in connection with Chemnitz. And then I saw what was going on through the window, because I live behind the building on the street." KUSCHNIK'S DOG (SOUNDBITE) (German) NEIGHBOURHOOD RESIDENT, MARTINA KUSCHNIK, SAYING: "Well, because of what had happened, I was afraid. But, it is good that the suspect was arrested because of a man from the same country as he was, that I find very notable. One should have a lot of respect for this guy, for what he did." WOMAN LOOKING OUT OF APARTMENT WINDOW MEDIA ON STREET PEOPLE WATCHING FROM BALCONIES STREET / APARTMENT BUILDING WHERE JABER ALBAKR WAS FOUND
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2016 09:46
  • Keywords: Chemnitz suspect Albakr IS bomb
  • Location: LEIPZIG, GERMANY
  • City: LEIPZIG, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
  • Reuters ID: LVA00153F85DZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: People living in the Paunsdorf neighbourhood of Leipzig were awoken in the night Monday (October 10) by helicopters and sirens, as police captured a man suspected of planning a bomb attack who had slipped through their grasp during a raid two days ago.
    Police had been looking for 22-year-old Syrian refugee Jaber Albakr since he evaded them during a raid on an apartment in the eastern city of Chemnitz, where they found several hundred grammes of explosive.
    "I approached the window and I saw the helicopter, and I was scared because there was a helicopter flying around and then I could hear police sirens everywhere," a woman who lives around the corner from the street where Albakr was found, Leonie Rot, said, adding that she was relieved he had been caught though. "Well, I think it is good, better than this guy still running around the area."
    Another woman who lives in an apartment building behind the one where Albakr was found, Martina Kuschnik, said she could see the police operation taking place from her window.
    "The helicopter woke me up in the night, then my son told me there was also a lot of police around, there must be something happening. Then, since I knew about the situation in Chemnitz, I kind of gathered that something is going on here in connection with Chemnitz. And then I saw what was going on through the window, because I live behind the building on the street," she said, going on to say how she had still been afraid.
    "Because of what had happened, I was afraid. But, it is good that the suspect was arrested because of a man from the same country as him, that I find very notable. One should have a lot of respect for this guy, for what he did," she said, referring to an uncited report by Spiegel Online that police captured Albakr after a tip-off from another Syrian living in Leipzig.
    Spiegel Online reported that Albakr approached the man at Leipzig railway station and asked if he could sleep at his home. The man agreed and later called police, who arrested Albakr at the home at 00:42 local time on Monday (2242 GMT on Sunday).
    Albakr had been in Germany since last year and was officially recognised as a refugee, police said at the weekend.
    The suspicion that a refugee was planning a bomb attack will prove unwelcome news for Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservatives have lost support to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over her open-door migration policy.
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