Germany detains two suspected Turkish militants

BERLIN, May 31 (Reuters) Germany has detained two men suspected of being senior members of Turkey's outlawed left-wing Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front, the federal prosecutor's office said today.

One man, named as Faruk E., aged 52, is suspected of being a senior member of the DHKP/C since it was formed in 1994. The group is one of Turkey's biggest far-left factions and has vowed to overthrow the Turkish government.

''He is suspected of having been a member of the three-man central committee of the DHKP/C, a deputy to the general secretary Dursun Karatas as well as the man responsible for Europe,'' the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The man, who is a Turkish national, was arrested on April 8 and held on suspicion of forging documents after police found a forged passport and driving licence on him when he was detained.

The second man is a 38-year-old German citizen, named by the attorney general only as Ilhan D. He is suspected of having been a member of the militant group since 2002.

The federal prosecutor's office described him as a ''leading member of the terrorist wing'' of the organisation and said he was suspected of having procured arms, weapons and ammunition.

The group is on the European Union's list of terrorist organisations and has claimed responsibility for a series of arson and firebomb attacks as well as several killings.

Reuters HK RN2135