Al-Qaida suspect arrested in raid on German hotel

German police have arrested a suspected member of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network in a late night raid on a hotel in the western city of Moenchengladbach.

The man, who had an Italian name, was arrested at around 11pm in the four-star Dorint Hotel in the centre of the city.

Police refused to reveal any more information and would not say if the arrest is linked to the attacks in New York and Washington last September.

Three of the four men suspected of piloting the hijacked planes used in those attacks had studied in the German city of Hamburg.

A Moroccan man was arrested in Hamburg on November 28 on charges of operating a bank account used by the hijackers.