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Algerian ‘terror’ suspect detained

28 November 2003

HAMBURG – German police detained a 30-year-old Algerian in the northern port city of Hamburg on Friday in connection with Italy’s capture of an Islamist terrorist cell in Milan.

A Hamburg police spokesman confirmed the arrest, but declined to give further details. The city not only has a large Turkish minority, but also big numbers of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa and many university students from the Islamic world.

Three of the four pilots in the 11 September 2001 attacks were Arab students from Hamburg. Prosecutors claim the plot was actually hatched in the city, but German intelligence is convinced it was devised by al-Qaeda and the students were then assigned to the job.

Television reports said three persons were arrested during raids in the northern city of Milan.

The police swoop comes two weeks after the suicide bombing which left 19 Italians dead in the Iraqi city of Nasariyah.

DPA
Subject: German news