Germany arrests suspected Islamist

Merkel appalled by Dortmund attack

KARLSRUHE/DUESSELDORF, Germany, April 12, (Agencies): German authorities arrested a suspected Islamist on Wednesday in connection with an attack on a bus carrying players of one of the country’s top soccer teams, a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said she was “appalled” by Tuesday evening’s attack on the Borussia Dortmund bus, in which Spanish defender Marc Bartra was injured.

The incident forced a 24-hour postponement of the team’s high-profile clash with AS Monaco, and officials said security had been stepped up for that game and a second Champions League quarter-final in Germany on Wednesday, between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Ralf Jaeger, interior minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia which includes Dortmund, said the investigation was looking “in all directions”, and it was unclear if one or several attackers were involved.

The spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutors, who handle probes into suspected terrorism, said investigators had found three letters near the scene of the attack, all with the same content suggesting a possible Islamist motive.

Spokeswoman Frauke Koehler said the letters referred to the use of Tornado reconnaissance planes in Syria, which Germany has deployed as part of the military campaign against Islamic State, and also called for the closure of the US military base at Ramstein in western Germany.

She also noted an online claim of responsibility by an anti-fascist group, but said there was serious doubt about its validity.

Investigators had identified two suspects from the “Islamist scene”, searched their apartments and detained one man, she said.

The blasts smashed windows on the bus carrying the players to the stadium for the match against AS Monaco. Bartra was operated on for a broken bone in his right wrist and shrapnel in his arm, a team spokesman said.

“The chancellor was last night, like people in Dortmund, like millions everywhere, appalled by the attack on the BVB team bus,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference.

“One can only be relieved that the consequences were not worse,” he said, praising Dortmund fans for offering accommodation to AS Monaco fans after the postponement.

Bartra, 26, joined Dortmund for 8 million euros ($8.5 million) last year from Barcelona, after coming through the Catalan club’s youth system. He has made 12 appearances for the Spanish national team.

BERLIN:

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German authorities have arrested a Syrian man suspected of joining the extremist Nusra Front and then the Islamic State group in Syria. They believe he tried to recruit refugees in Greek camps for extremist cells in Europe.

Federal prosecutors said the 31-year-old, identified only as Zoher J. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested Wednesday in Bavaria. They said the arrest was unrelated to an investigation of explosions targeting soccer team Borussia Dortmund.

Prosecutors say the suspect founded a Nusra Front unit in 2011 along with two other men previously arrested in Germany. The unit was later dissolved and the suspect allegedly joined IS, working for its “secret service.”

Prosecutors allege that he traveled to Germany in that function in 2015, and traveled back and forth to Greece.

TASHKENT:

An Uzbek man suspected of ramming a truck into a crowd of people in the Swedish capital Stockholm had tried to travel to Syria in 2015 to join the Islamic State group, an Uzbekistan security source said on Wednesday.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the suspect, Rakhmat Akilov, was an ethnic Tajik who while living in Sweden came under the influence of a Tajik Islamic State cell.

Akilov was detained at the TurkishSyrian border in 2015 and deported to Sweden, the source said. The source also said that in February this year Uzbekistan’s authorities had put Akilov on a wanted list for people suspected of religious extremism.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s centre-left government wants to fast-track plans to make it a criminal offence to be a member of what it deems a terrorist organisation, Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said, bringing Sweden into line with neighbour Norway.

The deadly truck attack in central Stockholm that left four dead and injured another 15 has led to widespread calls for tighter laws, more resources for police and a speedier framework for deporting people who have been denied asylum.

“Freedom of association was never intended to mean that you could be active in terrorist organisations,” Johansson told a news conference.

“In the circumstance, this will be fast-tracked.”

Similar measures have been discussed previously in Sweden, but were abandonded because they could clash with civil liberties enshrined in Sweden’s constitution.

The government has appointed a high court judge to investigate legal framework for a new law, which could be introduced by autumn next year.

Police have said that Akilov had expressed sympathies with extremist organisations.

Security services had not viewed him as a militant threat.

Sweden already has a law making it illegal to travel abroad for terrorist purposes.

Norway introduced a law making it illegal to be a member of a terrorist organisation in 2013.