German terrorism fears mount
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday August 21, 12:40 AM Reuters
*German terrorism fears mount*
By Noah Barkin
BERLIN (Reuters) - German politicians warned at the weekend of a growing
terrorism threat and called for new measures to counter it after
authorities said a plot to blow up trains had failed only because the
crude bombs did not go off.
Police said on Friday two men, who may have been part of a wider Islamic
militant network, had come close to exploding makeshift bombs on two
trains in Dortmund and Koblenz in July.
"The situation is very serious," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble
said in an interview with German public television. "The danger has
never been as high."
German police on Saturday detained one of two men they suspect of
planting the bombs. The two were caught on video cameras in Cologne
train station, dragging suitcases which contained the explosive devices
on to the trains.
The federal prosecutor has described the man as a 21-year-old Lebanese
student named Youssef Mohamad E.H., who has been living in Germany for
two years. Police seized him in the northern city of Kiel
An investigating judge in Karlsruhe questioned the man on Sunday and
issued a formal warrant for his arrest. The federal prosecutor said the
man was suspected of belonging to a terrorist group and of trying to
commit murder on a large scale.
Although the bombs, made with propane tanks and crude detonating
devices, failed to go off, authorities said the complexity of the plot
suggested the men had not acted alone.
The second suspect is still at large and the focus of an intense manhunt.
NEW GENERATION
Politicians said the incident highlighted the risk that a new generation
of militants unknown to security services were ready to strike.
"That is the real reason for concern," Schaeuble said. "We don't know
anymore who is living among us. Therefore, we need to use every tool at
our disposal."
Schaeuble has been pressing for the introduction of a comprehensive
anti-terrorism database that would better bring together information
held by police, the intelligence services and federal, state and local
authorities.
Some politicians remain opposed to a database they say would give
authorities unfettered access to personal information. The legacy of the
Nazis and East Germany's Stasi security service have complicated
government attempts to introduce tougher anti-terrorism laws.
Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy head of the conservatives in parliament, said
he hoped the failed attack would be a wake-up call for those opposed to
tighter security.
But Social Democrat leader Kurt Beck and members of the opposition
Greens and Left Party warned against an over-reaction that would
infringe people's right to privacy.