German police find explosives, detain 3 in search for would-be bomber

Officials say several hundred grams of explosive materials were hidden in Syrian suspect’s apartment, as hunt continues

BERLIN — German investigators found several hundred grams of “highly volatile” explosives in an apartment they raided Saturday in the eastern city of Chemnitz as they sought a Syrian man suspected of planning a bombing attack. The suspect remained on the run but three contacts were detained and being questioned, police said.

Saxony police spokesman Tom Bernhardt told reporters the explosives were found by investigators who combed carefully through the apartment, which was raided midday.

“They were not just lying out on the kitchen table, they were relatively well hidden,” he said.

About 100 people were evacuated from the five-story apartment building in Chemnitz as the bomb squad removed the explosives, which were not considered stable enough to move far. They were then destroyed in a controlled detonation, police said.

“It’s a highly volatile mixture,” Bernhardt said, adding that experts said it was considered it more dangerous than TNT. He did not identify the type of explosive.

Police raided the apartment in the eastern city of Chemnitz after receiving information from Germany’s domestic intelligence agency Friday night about the alleged attack plans, Bernhardt told reporters.

Saxony police put out an alert, identifying the suspect as 22-year-old Jaber Albakr from Damascus, and urging anyone with any information of his whereabouts to contact authorities. They released a photo of the suspect, a dark-haired man wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and said he was last seen wearing similar clothes.

Bernhardt said two people who knew the suspect were taken into custody in the Chemnitz train station area and a third in downtown Chemnitz. He said police were questioning the three, hoping they have information that might help them find the suspect.

“We have to assume that he is dangerous,” Bernhardt said.

The German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified German security sources, that the suspect is believed to be connected to Islamic extremist groups. Bernhardt would only say that he was “known” to German intelligence.

Authorities released no details about how long the suspect had been in Germany, and Bernhardt said it was unclear whether he had come in the wave of asylum seekers in 2015. Germany took in 890,000 asylum seekers last year, and Syrians fleeing civil war were the single largest group.

Neighbors reported hearing an explosion during the raid, but that was the police assault team blowing open the apartment door, police spokeswoman Kathlen Zink told The Associated Press.

Germany has been on edge since two attacks this summer claimed by the Islamic State in which multiple people were injured and both assailants died. Two other attacks unrelated to Islamic extremism, including a deadly mall shooting in Munich, have also contributed to fears.