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German car bomb plot trial begins German car bomb plot trial begins
(about 2 hours later)
A group of suspected militant Islamists has gone on trial in Germany charged with plotting to commit murder through a series of car bombings.A group of suspected militant Islamists has gone on trial in Germany charged with plotting to commit murder through a series of car bombings.
Prosecutors say the suspects - three Germans and one Turk - wanted to attack targets including the Ramstein US military base and Frankfurt airport. Prosecutors say the suspects wanted to attack targets including the Ramstein US military base and Frankfurt airport.
Some 200 witnesses are due to testify at the trial in Duesseldorf, which could last two years. Some 200 witnesses are due to testify at the trial in Duesseldorf, described as Germany's biggest terror case in decades, which could last two years.
Since their arrest 18 months ago, the suspects have remained silent.Since their arrest 18 months ago, the suspects have remained silent.
Three of the men were arrested when German police commandos raided their house in the village of Oberschledorn in September 2007. The four - German Muslim converts Fritz Gelowicz and Daniel Schneider, and ethnic Turks Attila Selek and Adem Yilmaz - have been dubbed the Sauerland cell, after the region of Germany where three of them were arrested in a raid by police commandos in September 2007.
Prosecutors say the suspects had collected 12 barrels of the chemical hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent which can be used to make explosives. As well as Ramstein and Frankfurt airport, their targets are believed to have included pubs, restaurants and discos. Prosecutors say they had turned their rented holiday cottage in the remote village of Oberschledorn into a bomb factory.
They face charges of conspiracy to murder, plotting to launch explosive attacks and membership of a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors say they were members of a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union, which has launched attacks in Uzbekistan and has links to al-Qaeda. It is alleged that they had collected 12 barrels of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide, enough of the ingredient for 100 times as much explosive as used in the suicide bombings that killed 52 people on public transport in London in July 2005.
The alleged ringleader of the German cell, Fritz Gelowicz, is a 29-year-old convert to Islam who had been living in Ulm, in southern Germany - after allegedly attending what the German authorities called a terrorist training camp in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. Attila Selek was arrested in Turkey in November 2007 and extradited to Germany.
US tip-off
Investigators say the Sauerland cell wanted to kill as many Americans in Germany as possible.
As well as Ramstein and Frankfurt airport, their targets are believed to have included pubs, restaurants and discos. They face charges of conspiracy to murder, plotting to launch explosive attacks and membership of a terrorist organisation.
Prosecutors say they were part of the Islamic Jihad Union, which has launched attacks in Uzbekistan and has links to al-Qaeda.
They say Fritz Gelowicz, Daniel Schneider and Adem Yilmaz all attended what they called a terrorist training camp on the Afghan-Pakistan border. The group had been under surveillance for months after a tip-off by the US security services.
Correspondents say the case has shocked many Germans. Some wonder how two so-called "ordinary" Germans could have allegedly been recruited for a holy war, while others worry that some youngsters in Germany's two million-strong Turkish community could reject integration in favour of radical Islam.