Germans reveal bomb details

Published on Wednesday 26 September 2007 00:07

FUSES intended for use in a suspected plot to bomb US installations in Germany came from Syria through Turkey, the German interior minister said yesterday.

Wolfgang Schaeuble said the three suspects had received an order from Pakistan to act by mid-September.

German security officials were also monitoring three men who had trained in a Pakistan camp for militants, but lacked the evidence to arrest them, Mr Schaeuble said.

The threat from the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad Union, which claimed responsibility for the plot, has not been eliminated, he said. US installations remained a potential target.

Mr Schaeuble was in Washington for security talks with Bush administration officials and congressional leaders.

"We know that fuses for these bombs ... came from Syria via Turkey to Germany," he said. "We know there are connections. We know that there is a clear network. The demand came from Pakistan (that) it's time to take action in the first half of September," he said.

Mr Schaeuble reiterated his call for an overhaul of international law and for common transatlantic security policies.

He cited frustration with the issue of two German citizens and a permanent resident who were arrested in Pakistan after training in a militant camp. The three were returned to Germany, but authorities lacked a basis to detain them. "Now we have to watch them," he said.

After a long debate over whether to punish the "intentions" of a terrorism suspect, Germany is likely to outlaw training in militant tactics such as bomb-building, Mr Schaeuble predicted.