Suspected extremist held over bus attack

Fans banned from taking backpacks to rescheduled match

German authorities arrested a suspected Islamic extremist in their investigation into a bomb attack on Borussia Dortmund, while the team lost 3-2 to Monaco in a hastily-rescheduled Champions League match.

Armed police officers in body armour patrolled the streets around Dortmund’s stadium last night.

Supporters were banned from taking backpacks to the match and some were frisked.

During the match, small knots of armed police guarded access to the stands.

Earlier in the day, Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for German federal prosecutors, said investigators are focusing on two suspected Islamic extremists in the bus attack and searched their homes, arresting one of them. But authorities said other motives are possible.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the metal-packed devices were detonated and what explosive substance was used.

They also found three copies of a note at the scene of the blasts, which demanded the withdrawal of German Tornado reconnaissance jets that are assisting the fight against the Islamic State group and the closure of the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Koehler said.

However, the region’s top security official raised the possibility the note could be “an attempt to lay a false trail”.

“We are investigating in every direction,” said Ralf Jaeger, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Tobias Plate, a spokesman for Germany’s Interior Ministry, said notes claiming responsibility have not been a feature of past Islamic extremist attacks.

Koehler also said there were “significant doubts” about a second claim of responsibility on the internet suggesting a left-wing extremist motive.

As the investigation continued, the football match delayed by the blasts got under way.

Dortmund were without Spanish central defender Marc Bartra, who had surgery for injuries to his wrist and arm after the three devices packed with metal pins detonated close to the team bus on Tuesday. Before kick-off, his team-mates honoured Bartra by wearing yellow T-shirts bearing his image and the message in Spanish: “A lot of strength – we are with you”.

Uefa increased security for all of last night’s Champions League games.

Picture: AP. Dortmund fans hold up a sign saying “Get well, Marc!” for Dortmund’s Spanish defender Marc Bartra who was injured in Tuesday night’s attack on the team bus.