(snip)"'New Al Qaeda plot to blow up planes on September 11' smashed
Last updated at 16:17pm on 5th September 2007
Police have smashed a suspected al Qaeda terror cell nursing a "profound hatred of US citizens" plotting to bomb civilian and military jets.
The force of the planned explosions would have been worse than the train bombings in Madrid and the Tube and bus attacks in London on 7 July, 2005, according to German security sources. Those attacks killed 191 and 52 people respectively.
Three men aged 22, 28 and 29 have been arrested in Germany days before they planned to strike, and bomb-making equipment and explosives have been seized. "(snip)
(snip)"The arrests come a day after Danish police conducted raids and took eight young Muslims into custody whom they suspect of plotting a bomb attack and having links with al Qaeda. No direct link has yet been established between the two plots.
Federal prosecutor Monika Harms said the three suspects had bought 700kg (1,500lbs) of hydrogen peroxide to make massive bombs. She said: "We have prevented what we believe would have been the worst terror attacks ever on German soil".
She declined to name specific targets but said the suspects had an eye on institutions and establishments frequented by Americans in Germany, including discos, pubs and airports.
Citing unnamed security sources in Berlin, the broadcaster Suedwestfunk said Frankfurt International Airport and US Ramstein Air Base were among targets.
Joerg Ziercke, the head of Germany's federal crime office, said the men had a "profound hatred of US citizens".
German security sources have reportedly said the men belonged to the Islamic Jihad, an Egyptain terrorist group that merged with al Qaeda in 2001.
germany terror suspects blue barrels
Confiscated canisters labeled as hydrogen peroxide are displayed during this morning's press conference in Germany
Wolfgang Bosbach, an MP with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the plot may have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 2001 atrocities in the US.
Franz Josef Jung, the defence minister, said: "The attacks were planned for the near future. They presented a real threat to life."
The suspects are believed to have been planning simultaneous attacks on aircraft sitting on the ground. Security services had been watching them for six months until yesterday, when the investigators spontaneously made the arrests after the men were observed moving chemicals from one storage location to another. "(snip)
(snip)"The German intelligence service is said to have learned of the plot through emails.
The suspects are reported to have confessed. Security services are trawling their contacts to make sure there are no back-up teams.
Ramstein [ the American Air Force's huge base in western Germany - sic] serves as America's main logistical base to service the war in Iraq. Germany has ground troops in Afghanistan.
"There are clear indications that at a minimum Ramstein and the Frankfurt airport were possible targets and that they would not have waited long to strike," leading conservative politician Wolfgang Bosbach told German television station N24, adding the attacks could have been timed to coincide with the anniversary of September 11. "(snip)
Again the nagging question was whether or not this was the 'main' attack being planned for the anniversary of September 11th, or whether this was a diversion to defocus attention away from preparations for the REAL attack.
Remember that, for the first time since 9/11/01, somebody has been buying billions of dollars worth of 'crazy' put options on both the US and European stock markets, which only pay off if the markets crash before September 21st.




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