Germans arrest three in terror probe

German authorities today arrested three men suspected of forming an Islamic extremist terror group, federal prosecutors said.

One of the men is believed to have supported the Hamburg-based cell of the September 11 hijackers.

Police detained the men during raids on six sites, including Islamic community centres in the western cities of Muenster and Minden, the prosecutors said.

Two of the men are suspected of planning attacks in Germany at the end of 2001 or the start of 2002, including an attack “on an American installation in the Frankfurt metropolitan area,” they said in a statement.