For months, the German authorities have said that the country faces a heightened threat of terrorist attack, and now it appears those warnings were based on fact. According to the authorities, they have foiled what the security forces believe could have been a devastating bombing campaign here in Germany. At a news conference, prosecutors confirmed three suspects had been arrested in a massive police operation. The suspects, two German nationals and one Turkish man, are all members of an al-Qaeda-affiliated organisation known as the Islamic Jihad Union, which has roots in Uzbekistan.At a news conference, Germany's Federal Prosecutor, Monika Harms, said the arrests were the result of a long police investigation. "We were able to succeed in recognising and preventing the most serious and massive bombings," she told media in Karlsruhe. German officials say the men had been under police surveillance for the last nine months. In Berlin, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Germany now faced what he described as a "concrete" threat of attack, and he paid tribute to the security forces. (BBC News)
