Karlsruhe, Germany
A German terror cell was plotting “imminent” and “massive” attacks against a U.S. Air Force base in Germany and Frankfurt International Airport, prosecutors said this week. Police arrested three men, two German converts to Islam and a Turkish national, who had trained in Pakistan last year and belonged to the Islamic Jihad Union, an al Qaida–linked group. The three were caught with 12 barrels of liquid explosive—more than the amount used in the 2005 Madrid and London bombings—that they allegedly intended to pack into car bombs. “This was one of the most serious terror attacks ever planned in Germany,” said chief prosecutor Monika Harms. U.S. and German intelligence had been watching the men since 2006, when one was spotted staking out a U.S. base near Frankfurt.
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