WIESBADEN (voa) – In the aftermath of the Tunisian synagogue explosion, Germany’s federal crime agency warns that U.S., British, Israeli and Jewish institutions in Germany are at risk of attack.
The statement Friday by the BKA federal crime agency in Wiesbaden came after Chancellor Schroeder’s government was criticized by the opposition for failing to warn tourists they could be a target for Islamic fundamentalist attacks.
Eleven German tourists were among the 17 people killed last week when a tanker truck exploded near a synagogue on the Tunisian holiday island of Djerba.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily is to visit the site of the deadly blast when he travels to Tunisia on Sunday and Monday. Top law enforcement officials will be traveling with him. Mr. Schily is to meet with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to discuss the investigation. The Tunisian government had originally said the blast was an accident.
Mr. Schily told German television that prosecutors have witnesses, material evidence and telephone taps to support claims that the incident was not an accident.
German investigators are looking into a possible al-Qaida link to the explosion. German authorities briefly detained a German man on Tuesday, identified only as “Christian G,” who allegedly spoke to the driver of the fuel truck by telephone just an hour before the blast.
German media report that police found the telephone number of a wanted man with links to the Hamburg al-Qaida cell in “Christian G’s” apartment. Members of the Hamburg cell, including Mohammed Atta, helped to plan and carry out the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
