German plot links seen in Syria, Europe

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The network of three suspects arrested this month in an al Qaeda-linked bomb plot in Germany may have extended to Syria and other countries in Europe, the German interior minister said on Monday.

"They worked in a very conspirative and high(ly) professional conspirative manner," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters as he met U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Washington.

German police earlier this month arrested the three men, said to have trained at militant camps in Pakistan, on suspicion of plotting large bomb attacks on U.S. installations in Germany. U.S. electronic surveillance played a key role in disrupting the plot, authorities have said.

The suspects had an international network that ranged to "not only Pakistan (but also) Syria, and even there are links maybe to other European countries," Schaeuble said.

There were also possible additional contacts in Germany but authorities lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute, he said.

Schaeuble, whose aggressive push against terrorism has underscored strengthening German-U.S. security ties, met with Chertoff for talks on a broad range of security issues.

In a speech after the Chertoff meeting, Schaeuble called for an overhaul of international law and suggested a "trans-Atlantic security area" to collectively fight terrorism.

"Since the boundaries between internal and external security are becoming blurred, the distinction between international law in peacetime and international law in wartime is no longer really helpful, and even the distinction between combatant and noncombatant seems to be no longer sufficient," he said.