This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/10/german-police-capture-syrian-man-suspected-of-planning-bomb-attack

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
German police capture Syrian man suspected of planning bomb attack German police capture Syrian man suspected of planning bomb attack
(about 3 hours later)
German police have detained a 22-year-old Syrian man who was the subject of a nationwide hunt and is believed to have been preparing a bomb attack. German police have arrested a 22-year-old Syrian man with alleged links to Islamic State who they believe was planning to carry out a major terrorist attack at a Berlin airport.
Jaber Albakr was detained overnight in the eastern city of Leipzig, police in the eastern state of Saxony tweeted early on Monday. Jaber al-Bakr was found by police when they stormed a high-rise block of flats in the eastern city of Leipzig in the early hours of Monday morning following a tipoff by two other Syrian men.
Albakr, from the Damascus area of Syria, escaped from authorities on Saturday during a raid of his apartment in nearby Chemnitz. Investigators said they found “several hundred grammes” of a volatile explosive hidden in the apartment, enough to cause significant damage. “We have positively identified him,” a police spokesman said. “Two Syrian men detained him in their flat.”
The weekend raid came after Saxony police were told by Germany’s domestic intelligence service that Albakr may be planning an attack. He had been on the agency’s radar, but police said over the weekend that it was not clear for how long. The arrest brought to a dramatic close a 48-hour manhunt, with extra security measures put in place at airports and railway stations around the country over fears Bakr planned to carry out a bomb attack.
On Saturday morning, Albakr was seen leaving his apartment building as police prepared to raid it. Police fired a warning shot but were unable to stop him. Investigators found about 1kg of a highly volatile explosive in the man’s third-floor flat in Chemnitz. They identified it as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, 200g of which is enough to cause extensive damage. The explosives were detonated in a specially dug pit outside the apartment because bomb experts considered them too dangerous to transport.
Experts are trying to determine whether the explosives they found in the apartment were the same ones used in the November attacks in Paris and the ones in Brussels in March. The explosives used in those attacks are known as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide. It was the fourth alleged planned bomb attack with an Isis motive that German authorities have foiled this year. Two other attacks this summer claimed by Isis in which people were injured and both assailants died, have contributed to fears Germany has become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
TATP has been used in many attacks over the years, and is favoured by violent extremists because it is fairly easy to make and detonate. Bakr had been under surveillance by Germany’s intelligence service, the BND, for several months and was classed as a high, level-two, threat. But police in Chemnitz had reportedly only been made aware of the threat he posed on Friday.
The explosives were destroyed on Saturday in a controlled detonation by bomb squad experts in a pit dug outside the five-storey apartment building because they were considered too dangerous to transport. A surveillance team was stationed close to Bakr’s flat in southern Chemnitz. Bakr, apparently aware he was being watched, left his flat at about 7am on Saturday morning, undeterred by a warning shot from police.
German media have said Albakr is believed to be connected to Islamic extremist groups, but Saxony police have not commented on his possible motive or the bomb plot’s target. Police initially thought he had returned to his flat, when in fact he had fled via an underground passage. A photograph taken as he emerged from his flat, distributed throughout Germany on social media, showed a man in a black sweatshirt, carrying a rucksack.
Germany has been on edge since two attacks this summer claimed by Islamic State in which many people were injured and both assailants died. Two other attacks unrelated to Islamic extremism, including a deadly mall shooting in Munich, have also contributed to fears. Bakr, from Saasaa near Damascus, is reported to have arrived in Germany via Austria as a refugee in February 2015. He was registered by police in Rosenheim, Bavaria, his fingerprints were taken and his details were compared with those in the international register of terrorist suspects, but no match was found. He was sent to asylum seeker accommodation in the eastern city of Chemnitz and was officially recognised as a refugee in June last year.
During the manhunt, federal police had increased security around the country, particularly around “critical infrastructure” such as train stations and airports. Initial evidence suggests he had researched bombmaking methods on the internet as well as frequently visiting Isis websites. Investigators alleged he had definite links to Islamic State and had been schooled by them in bombmaking.
Police were alerted to the whereabouts of Bakr in the Leipzig flat on Hartriegelstrasse – 60 miles (100km) from Chemnitz – by the two other Syrian refugees. They had met Bakr at Leipzig train station at about noon on Saturday, describing him as exhausted, upset and dishevelled. They offered him a bed in their flat, but realised only later that evening that he was wanted after police sent out a message via social media in Arabic. They reportedly tied him to a sofa before calling police.
Police said the men had subsequently sent them a photo of Bakr tied to the sofa via WhatsApp as proof, and urged them to come quickly as they would not be able to restrain him for much longer. A 33-year-old man who rented Bakr a room he allegedly used as a bomb laboratory has also been arrested.
Federal prosecutors have taken over the investigation.