2006 German train bombing attempts

Terrorist incident in Germany 2006 German train bombing attempts File:Versuchte Bombenanschläge vom 31. Juli 2006 Dortmund.jpg Police cordon of the Dortmund Hauptbahnhof Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, on trains en route to (1) Hamm or Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, and (2) Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate Commuter trains 31 July 2006 Bombings (attempted) None; bombs failed to ignite Youssef Mohamad el-Hajdib and Jihad Hamad Improvised explosive devices Islamic terrorism On 31 July 2006, two men placed two suitcases filled with bombs on regional commuter trains in Germany. Departing from the central station in Cologne, the bombs were timed to go off near Hamm or Dortmund and near Koblenz, and according to German investigators "would have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people ... on a much larger scale than the terrorist attacks on London subways and buses in July 2005."Suspects in Attempted Bombings Face Prison for Life, Deutsche Welle, October 22, 2006 However, due to faulty construction, the bombs only failed to ignite, even as the detonators worked. According to the German prosecutor, at the time Germany had "never been closer to an Islamist attack than in this case."9 December 2008 Man jailed for German train bombs plot https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/09/germany-train-bombs The Guardian Associated Press German investigators suspected a terrorist organisation was behind the plot. Investigations found two Lebanese men to have been behind the attempted bombings.Gohel Sajjan M. August 2011 Germany Increasingly a Center for Terrorism in Europe https://ctc.usma.edu/germany-increasingly-a-center-for-terrorism-in-europe/ 4 8 CTC Sentinel Combating Terrorism Center Jihad Hamad, who had fled to Lebanon after the attempted attacks was sentenced to twelve years in prison in Beirut in 2007. Youssef Mohamad el-Hajdib, arrested in Kiel on 19 August, was in 2008 sentenced to life in prison in Germany for the attempted bombings. There remained suspicions of involvement by the brother of one of the convicted men, Saddam el-Hajdib, a high-ranking member of Fatah al-Islam who was killed in fighting with the Lebanese Army before he could be tried in court.Chalk Peter Encyclopedia of Terrorism 1 2013 https://books.google.com/books?id=-wwPNjSnxcYC&pg=PA248 ABC-CLIO 248–249 9780313308956 Europol classified the attack as Islamic terrorism in a 2007 report.TE-SAT 2007: EU Terrorism Situation & Trend Report https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/te-sat-2007-eu-terrorism-situation-trend-report live https://web.archive.org/web/20161219224901/https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/te-sat-2007-eu-terrorism-situation-trend-report 2016-12-19 2020-08-15 Europol 18 en Suspects Youssef Mohamad El Hajdib El Hajdib, aged 21, was arrested at Kiel's central train station on 19 August 2006. There were reports two weeks later in connection with the Vollsmose terrorist trial that he was trying to travel to Denmark and that he had Odense imam Abu Bashar's telephone in his pocket. Bashar denied knowing El Hajdib.9 arrested by Denmark in reported terror plot, International Herald Tribune, September 5, 2006 On 9 December 2008 El Hajdib was sentenced to life in prison by a German court for attempted murder and the attempt to cause an explosion.Train plotter jailed in Germany https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7772817.stm BBC News 9 December 2008A Terrorist Gets the Judicial Middle Finger http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-world-from-berlin-a-terrorist-gets-the-judicial-middle-finger-a-595609.html Spiegel Online 10 December 2008 After serving his sentence, he will be deported to Egypt. In 2020 El Hajdib was extradited to Lebanon. https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/kofferbomber-koeln-abschiebung-101.html Jihad Hamad Hamad, aged 20, fled to Lebanon after the failed attack and tried to hide with his family. He turned himself to Lebanese authorities in Beirut a few days after El Hajdib was arrested.July 2019 His family lives in Al-Kobbe, Tripoli. In his youth Jihad went to a Christian school. Jihad came to Essen to live with his uncle, study and work. Jihad confessed to depositing the luggage on the trains but claimed he was unaware it was a bomb. He also said El Hajdib and he had researched on the internet how to prepare attacks which would cause increased suffering. Hamad told Lebanese interrogators that El Hajdib saw the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy as an attack by the Western world on Islam.Prophet drawings motivated by suspects behind failed German train bombings, investigator says, International Herald Tribune, September 2, 2006 Further motivation was the killing of Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on 7 June 2006 by US forces. Hamad and El Hajdib lived together in Cologne. Hamad was sentenced in December 2007 to twelve years in prison with hard labour in Beirut.Lebanese Man Convicted in 2006 Plot to Bomb German Trains https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/world/middleeast/19lebanon.html The New York Times 19 December 2007 Other suspects July 2019 What happened to Hawa, Hajdib & Boubou? Saddam el-Hajdib - brother of Youssef Mohamad El Hajdib, and a high-ranking member of the Fatah al-Islam group, was suspected of helping plan a serious attack. He was killed in fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Armed Forces in May 2007.Suspect in German Bomb Plot Killed in Lebanon Fighting, Deutsche Welle, May 22, 2007 Ayman Hawa, 20 - from Akkar, arrested on 28 August 2006 by Lebanese authorities.Lebanon arrests fourth suspect in German bomb case https://web.archive.org/web/20071015225838/http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L02136965 2007-10-15 , Reuters, September 2, 2006 Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib - arrested in Lebanon by authorities.July 2019 Khalil al-Boubou - arrested in Lebanon by authorities.July 2019 Bombs and evidence thumb|One of the suitcase bombs on display by the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz in 2014 The plans for the bombs were taken from the internet. The suspects diverged at a few points and it was there that technical mistakes were made. The devices cost about 200-300 Euro to build. The bombs were made from propane barbecue canisters to be triggered with gasoline and makeshift detonators. The detonators went off, but failed to ignite the gas.Train Bombing Plot Surprises Germany, ABC News According to German security services the attacks were originally planned for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, several weeks earlier, but the suspects abandoned the plan when they considered the implications of such an attack. A search of the suspects' apartment found DNA matching that on the suitcases and receipts for the gas canister and gas. Surveillance cameras caught both suspects carrying wheeled baggage onto the train at Cologne. References External links Terrorism in Germany: Every Investigator's Nightmare in Spiegel Magazine collapsed Train bombing attempts Category:2000s in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:2000s in Cologne Category:Crime in Cologne Category:Failed terrorist attempts in Germany Category:Islamic terrorism in Germany Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 2006 Category:July 2006 crimes in Europe Train bombing attempts Train bombing attempts Category:Terrorist incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in 2006 Category:Train bombings in Europe Category:Improvised explosive device bombings in Germany