German train bomb suspect arrested in Lebanon

BERLIN, Aug 24 (Reuters) A Lebanese man suspected of planting a bomb on a German train has been arrested after turning himself in to authorities in Lebanon, the German federal prosecutor said today.

The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Jihad Hamad, is one of two men German authorities believe tried to set off bombs on trains last month in the cities of Dortmund and Koblenz.

The bombs, hidden in suitcases and made with propane tanks and crude detonating devices, failed to go off.

The other suspect, a 21-year-old Lebanese man named Youssef Mohamad E H, was arrested in the northern German city of Kiel on Saturday as he was apparently attempting to flee the country.

The prosecutor's office said Hamad, who had been hunted by German federal police in recent days, had turned himself in to authorities in Tripoli.

''Based on our understanding, he has since been taken from Tripoli to Beirut,'' prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum told a news conference in Karlsruhe.

German investigators believe both men, who were filmed by security cameras dragging the suitcase bombs onto trains in Cologne, are part of a broader terrorist organisation.

Griesbaum said police searching Hamad's apartment near Cologne had found gas bottles, cables and tape that may match materials used in the attempted bombings.

The suspect's father Shaheed Hamad, a retired Lebanese army soldier in his 50s, told Reuters in front of the family house in Tripoli he had turned his son in after hearing he was a suspect but could not believe he was part of the bombing plot.

''My son went to study in Germany because of his excellent marks. Is it possible that in six months he became al Qaeda?'' he said in disbelief. ''If it was true, then may he never return.'' EXTRADITION Germany wants Hamad, whom the prosecutor's office had initially said was 19, extradited. Griesbaum said that process could take months.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview with German television station N24, called the arrest a ''major success'' that resulted from intense cooperation with foreign institutions.

News of the bomb plot has aroused fears that Germany is vulnerable to the kind of deadly attacks on public transport that Britain and Spain have suffered in recent years.

Germany has not suffered a major attack in recent years, but a cell including members of the group behind the September 11 attacks on the United States was based in Hamburg.

Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble this week urged Muslim groups to work with authorities to tackle militancy. He suggested police informers could infiltrate Islamist groups.

German Muslims warned against sidelining their communities because of terrorism fears, saying that would fan radicalism.

''Instead of threatening sanctions or portraying Muslims as scapegoats, politicians must send a signal that we are all part of the same world and we must work together to keep it peaceful,'' said Aiman Mazyek of Germany's Central Council of Muslims.

REUTERS PB RN2039