(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-12 05:21

BERLIN _ German authorities said Tuesday that the Islamic Jihad Union militant group has claimed responsibility for planning bombings that were foiled by the arrests of three suspects last week and confirmed that the U.S. air base at Ramstein was among the targets.

The Interior Ministry, which is responsible for police and internal security, said in a statement that the IJU made the announcement on the Internet and that government computer experts viewed it as genuine. Three men were arrested September 4 on suspicion of planning massive bombings against U.S. and other facilities in Germany.

"In an Internet appearance, the Islamic Jihad Union has taken responsibility for the foiled attacks in Germany and addresses the arrests of September 4, 2007," the ministry statement said. "The attacks planned according to this for the end of 2007 were directed against the U.S. air base at Ramstein as well as U.S. and Uzbek consular facilities in Germany."

The attacks were aimed at pressing Germany to close its air base in Termez, Uzbekistan, the statement said. The base near the Uzbek-Afghan border provides logistical support for the roughly 3,000 German troops serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan.

German officials had previously said they did not know the exact targets of the planned attacks, saying that the plotters had discotheques, pubs and airports in view. The Ramstein base in southwestern Germany is a major air hub that supports U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Islamic Jihad Union is described by police and prosecutors as an offshoot of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a militant group which had origins in that Central Asian country. The IJU has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department; German prosecutors have said it is characterized by a "profound hatred of U.S. citizens."

According to the State Department, the group was responsible for coordinated bombings directed at the U.S. and Israeli embassies in July 2004 in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. The U.S. government says members have been schooled in explosives by al-Qaida instructors and the group has ties to Osama bin Laden and fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

U.S. intelligence officials acknowledged in testimony before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday that they had assisted German officials in detecting the threat. U.S. Director of Intelligence Michael McConnell said a U.S. program to intercept suspects' communications made "significant contributions" to the German investigation.

Last week, German anti-terrorist forces swept down on a rented cottage in Oberschledorn in central Germany and arrested Fritz Martin Gelowicz, 28, described as the leader of an Islamic Jihad Union terror cell, and Daniel Martin Schneider, 22, both of them German converts to Islam. The third suspect has been identified as Adem Yilmaz, 29, born in Turkey but also living in Germany.

All three had trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan, prosecutors said, and the case has raised concerns in Germany about homegrown extremists linking up with foreign terror groups. Gelowicz came from Ulm, a town on the Danube River in southern German that, along with neighboring Neu-Ulm, has been targeted by police as a center of radical activity.

Prosecutors said the three had obtained 730 kilograms, or more than 1,600 pounds, of 35-percent hydrogen peroxide solution, enough to make explosives with the equivalent power of 550 kilograms, or 1,200 pounds, of TNT, as well as military style detonators. Bombs made from hydrogen peroxide killed 52 commuters in terrorist attacks in London in 2005.

The group had been under surveillance for months in an operation that involved some 300 law enforcement personnel.

The German Interior Ministry statement said that the arrests had prevented the danger in the current case but that "the statement of responsibility underscores ... the continuing danger from Islamic terrorism."