Germany charges Lebanese man over failed bombings

Karlsruhe, Germany, June 20 (Reuters) The German federal prosecutor's office said today it had charged a Lebanese man being held in detention for a failed attempt to detonate bombs on two trains in Germany almost a year ago.

The prosecutor's office said it charged Youssef Mohamad E H D, 22, with attempting along with fellow suspect Jihad Hamad, who is on trial in Lebanon, to carry out attacks with the aim of killing a number of people.

The two suspects took two wheeled suitcases containing bombs onto trains at Cologne's main railway station in July last year, the prosecutor's office said.

''A detonation could have led in both cases to a significant blast and additionally a catalyst within the 'bomb trolleys' could have unleashed a fireball,'' the federal prosecutor's office said in the statement.

Mohamad boarded a train heading to Koblenz, while Hamad took another going to Dortmund. Both men left suitcases on the trains, which they planned to detonate later in the day with a timed explosive device, the prosecutor's office said.

Despite being activated the bombs failed to detonate due to a technical error, the prosecutors' office said.

The two men agreed on the plan in April 2006 as an act to avenge the publishing of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad by several European publications, the prosecutor's office said.

The suspect Mohamad was identified on security camera footage that appeared to show him dragging a suitcase onto a train in Cologne. Suitcases like those in the footage were found packed with propane gas tanks and crude detonating devices.

Mohamad has been detained since August 2006.

REUTERS RS RAI2135