Second alleged German train bomber arrested in Lebanon

24 August 2006

KARLSRUHE, GERMANY – The second of a pair of alleged bombers was arrested Thursday in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, and Germany said it would seek his extradition on charges of terrorism and attempting to blow up two trains.

The first of the two Lebanese youths was arrested on Saturday, three weeks after what appeared to be homemade bombs had failed to explode in trains near Cologne. The incident has been described as Germany’s closest shave yet with international terrorism.

Jihad Hamad, 20, surrendered to police in Tripoli in northern Lebanon and was taken to Beirut. The first suspect, Yousef Mohamad e- H, 21, was in a jail in Berlin being interrogated by German federal police.

Rainer Griesbaum, a prosecutor in the German justice capital of Karlsruhe, said flammable material, receipts for gas canisters, wires and black self-adhesive tape found in Hamad’s hastily abandoned Cologne apartment appeared to be linked to the two bombs.

Police say the bombs, containing propane gas and petrol and timed to explode just before trains reached the cities Koblenz and Dortmund, had construction flaws.

Griesbaum indicated a wider, informal group of plotters, which apparently had no name, was being sought, but declined details.

A prosecutor and senior federal police officer would fly to Beirut taking key documents with them to assist extradition proceedings. Germany has no extradition treaty with Lebanon but would seek custody of Hamad through diplomatic channels, he said.

The prosecutor said he presumed that a wanted poster of Hamad had been at least one of the motivations for the Lebanese to surrender.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier welcomed Lebanon’s help, saying “I am happy that this form of international cooperation is so successful.”

DPA

Subject: German news