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German Police Warn of Possible Al Qaeda Attack
Last Updated: April 26, 2002 02:46 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have warned security officials that there could soon be an al Qaeda attack in Germany, a spokesman said Friday.

The German BKA criminal agency confirmed that it had sent a warning Tuesday to security officials warning of an attack over the next 20 days but said they did not know of a specific target or plan of action.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper said in its Saturday edition that an al Qaeda member from Pakistan had worked out a plan to take 300 to 400 hostages in Germany, France and Britain in an effort to win the freedom for al Qaeda prisoners.

"Even if there is not knowledge of a concrete target, place, time and modus operandi of a possible attack, one still has to assume a high threat because of the existence of members of the bin Laden network, especially on American, Israeli, Jewish and British sites in Germany," the BKA said in a statement.

In recent days, German authorities have repeatedly warned about the possibility of attacks against such institutions inside Germany. But they have also said they did not know of any concrete attack plans.

Thursday, authorities remanded in custody nine suspected members of an extremist Palestinian Islamic group.

Germany has kept a careful eye on extremists since it emerged that three of the suicide hijackers who carried out the September 11 attacks on the United States, including the presumed leader, had lived in Hamburg.

Washington blames Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network for the suicide attacks.

Officials again stepped up security precautions after an attack in Tunisia earlier this month killed 11 Germans.

-- posted by BPyles