21 August 2006
A Lebanese student suspected of planting two bombs that failed to explode on German trains last month has been arrested. The 21-year-old was detained on Saturday, only a day after investigators released surveillance camera footage from 31 July, the day of the attempted bombing, showing two men with heavy luggage who were believed to have planted the bombs. The student was arrested at the central train station of Kiel in northern Germany where he lived and studied. Federal attorney-general Monika Harms said the suspect apparently planned to flee Germany. Prosecutors said the suspect was identified with the help of the surveillance footage, from Cologne station, and DNA traces from one of the suitcases in which bombs were found. The devices, made with gas canisters, were found on trains in Dortmund and Koblenz, both of which came from Cologne. They apparently were supposed to explode simultaneously, 10 minutes before the trains arrived at the stations. A torn scrap of paper with Arabic script listing groceries and phone numbers in Lebanon was found in clothing surrounding one gas canister. Small bags of starch, also from Lebanon and available in Germany, were also found. Investigators believe the attack could be related to fighting in the Middle East. The second suspect is still at large.
