Federal prosecutors said Thursday they had arrested four Islamic extremists on weapons and explosives charges and for membership of a criminal organization.
The prosecutors office in this western city said that the men, reportedly from Algeria, Iraq and France, had allegedly assembled a depot of long-range rifles, handguns, machine guns, and material for the construction of bombs for use in "reprisal" attacks against Islamic opponents and government institutions.
The office said that the suspects also aimed to support fundamentalist groups in the Middle East from their base Germany and had been trained in guerrilla tactics and bombing in Afghan camps run by Saudi dissident and alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Authorities said that because the men had presented aliases and fake identification papers, their names had not yet been definitively determined -- KARLSRUHE, Germany (AFP)
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