Germany detains Iraqi suspected of aiding insurgents

BERLIN, June 14 (Reuters) German authorities have charged a 36-year-old Iraqi citizen on suspicion of funding Ansar al-Islam, a militant group Washington has linked to al Qaeda in Iraq, federal prosecutors said today.

The man, named as Burhan B., was arrested at Frankfurt airport on Monday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

''The accused is suspected of providing logistical and financial support to the foreign terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam from Germany,'' it said. He is accused of transferring 22,000 euros (27,680 dollars) to the group in Iraq between November 2003 and May 2004.

A prosecutor's spokesman said the Iraqi is the seventh suspected member of Ansar al-Islam to be charged in Germany. One was jailed for seven years in January and five more are due to go on trial in separate cases in Stuttgart and Munich next week.

Burhan B. is an alleged associate of Ata A. R., an accused ringleader of Ansar al-Islam in Germany and one of three men due to go on trial in the Stuttgart case on June 20 accused of plotting in December 2004 to assassinate Iyad Allawi, then prime minister of Iraq, during a visit to Germany.

The United States says Ansar al-Islam is linked to al Qaeda in Iraq, whose former leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S.

air strike last week.

REUTERS CH VV1510