Germany targeted by terror plot
Updated on 05 September 2007
It could have been German's 9/11 - perhaps planned for the anniversary of the American attacks - with US targets on German soil.
The details of the operation are sketchy but the German security services say the three men arrested were believed to be on the verge of carrying out a series of attacks.
The German prosecutor claims the men had trained at terror camps in Pakistan and had acquired large amounts of hydrogen peroxide with which to make explosives.
They had been under surveillance for months but were picked up when they started moving their equipment.
The authorities say there was an 'imminent threat' and one of the targets may have been the US military base at Ramstein, which is a major hub for military operations.
There is also speculation that there was a threat against Frankfurt airport, one of the busiest in Europe.
The arrests came after months of surveillance and involved police raids in several German states - in one shots were fired, in another police recovered detonators and chemicals.
Unconfirmed reports in the German media say two of the suspects are German nationals, the third held a Pakistani passport and all three are suspected members of "an Islamist terrorist organisation".
For more on the German investigation I'm joined now by our foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller.
