Germany nabs Turk said to be planning US attack

GERMAN police said yesterday they had arrested a 24-year-old Turkish national in possession of explosives, and a newspaper reported he was suspected of planning an attack on US installations.

A police spokesman in Stuttgart in southwest Germany confirmed the arrest near the tourist city of Heidelberg.

"We found a large quantity of explosives on him," said state Interior Ministry spokeswoman Alice Loyson-Siemering.

She said the 24-year-old man was arrested "in the Heidelberg area" but did not say when or give more precise details.

She did not comment on the report he was planning to attack a US base.

"I would put it this way when in these times you arrest someone and find a large quantity of explosives on him, you can suspect that, but the investigation is in progress and we can say nothing about that," Loyson-Siemering said.

The Bild newspaper, in an advance copy of its Saturday edition, reported that the man was suspected of planning an attack on a US facility and said he was being checked for possible links to the al Qaeda network.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily said Wednesday authorities had reviewed 500 tip-offs of possible new attacks since Sept. 11 but found no evidence of a concrete plot to mark the first anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center next week.