German Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung has confirmed that three people were arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of planning terror attacks on Frankfurt Airport and the US military base at Ramstein.

Quoting security sources in Berlin, SWR public radio reported that two German nationals and a Pakistani had been planning to bomb the international airport in Frankfurt, and the US military base at Ramstein in western Germany. Plans to carry out an attack were allegedly welladvanced. Referring to “an imminent threat,” Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung confirmed the arrests later on public broadcaster ARD, but refused to go into detail.

“The security services have done a very good job and I can’t say anything more at this point,” he said.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe has also confirmed the arrests, stating that the three detainees are believed to be members of an Islamist terrorist cell.

“Raids have taken place in several German states,” the official added.

In the line of fire
The international airport in Frankfurt is one of Europe’s busiest, while the Ramstein Air Base in the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the most important US airbases overseas.

Germany, which has forces stationed in Afghanistan, has been on high alert for attacks since June. At that time, top German officials from the interior and foreign ministries said suicide bombers were thought to be planning attacks within the country, and that the security situation was more serious than it had been since 2001.

Six years ago, Germany was shocked to learn that the northern port city of Hamburg had been used as a base for the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors charged a Lebanese man over a failed attempt to detonate bombs on two trains in Germany in 2006. He and another suspect were caught on surveillance cameras carrying suitcases containing bombs aboard trains at Cologne’s main railway station.

Both men left suitcases on the trains, which they planned to detonate later in the day with a timed explosive device. Despite being activated, the bombs failed to go off because of a technical error. DW