Syrian man seized in Germany ‘was planning Isis bomb attack’

Chancellor praises Syrian refugees who tied up Jaber al-Bakr at their flat and tipped off police who arrested him

Angela Merkel has praised three Syrian refugees who guided police to a man with suspected links to Islamic State who was allegedly planning to blow himself up at a German airport.

Jaber al-Bakr, 22, from Syria, was found by police at a high-rise block of flats in the eastern city of Leipzig in the early hours of Monday morning after a 48-hour manhunt.
A police spokesman said three refugees had recognised Bakr from wanted posters, and two had bound and held him at the flat while the third brought a mobile phone photo to a local police station.

After praising the security officers who carried out the arrest, the German chancellor said via her deputy spokesman: “Gratitude and recognition is also due to the [men] from Syria who informed police about the terror suspect’s whereabouts, which led to his arrest.”

Saxony police said Bakr was thought to be linked to Isis. “Both his modus operandi and his behaviour suggest this has an Isis context,” said the head of Leipzig’s criminal police, Jörg Michaelis. He said Bakr had “more or less finished making a suicide vest”.

Markus Ulbig, the interior minister of Saxony, praised the police operation, which involved 700 officers, and said: “We were successful in preventing a bomb attack.”
Eighty people were evacuated from their homes as a result of the police operation targeting Bakr. A police spokesman said they would be able to return home on Tuesday.

During the manhunt for Bakr, extra security measures were put in place at airports and railway stations.

It is the fourth alleged bomb plot with an Isis link that German authorities claim to have foiled this year. Two other attacks this summer claimed by Isis, in which people were injured and both assailants died, have contributed to fears that Germany has become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

The interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, said there were parallels between Bakr’s alleged plot and recent attacks in Europe. “The preparations in Chemnitz are similar from everything that we now know, to the preparations for the attacks in Paris and Brussels,” he said.

Bakr had been under surveillance by Germany’s intelligence service, the BND, for several months and was classed as a level-two threat. But police in Chemnitz were reportedly made aware of the threat he posed only on Friday.

A surveillance team was stationed close to Bakr’s flat in southern Chemnitz. Bakr, apparently aware he was being watched, left his flat at about 7am on Saturday, undeterred by a warning shot from police.
Bakr was transported in a high-security van to Dresden city court, where he was due to appear before a judge.

A 33-year-old identified as Kalil A, also a refugee, was arrested for allegedly providing Bakr with the room where he constructed his bomb.

Investigators found about 1kg of a highly volatile explosive in Bakr’s flat in Chemnitz, near Leipzig. They identified it as TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, 200g of which is enough to cause extensive damage. The explosives were detonated in a specially dug pit outside the apartment because bomb experts considered them too dangerous to transport.