Police arrested a Muslim man in connection with a triple-blast on Tuesday night targeting a German soccer team, stating that it was indeed a case of terrorism.
“Two suspects from the Islamist spectrum have become the focus of our investigation. Both of their apartments were searched, and one of the two has been detained,” Frauke Koehler, the lead prosecutor, told reporters.
The German news media reported that two suspects, a 25-year-old Iraqi man and a 28 year old man, were detained.
Three explosive devices went off near a bus transporting the Dortmund Germany soccer team on Tuesday night, with a blast radius of about 300 feet. Officials reported that metal pins had been inserted into the devices and one pin had been found buried in a headrest after the blast. One player and a policeman were injured and officials postponed the playoff match.
The players had just left the hotel and boarded the bus on their way to their home stadium to play a Champions League quarter-final against Monaco, when the explosive devices went off. Bus windows were shattered, and defender Marc Bartra suffered a broken arm. A fourth explosive device failed to go off.
Dortmund police tweeted: “After the initial investigation, we assume that this was an attack with serious explosives.”
Three copies of one letter were found at the scene, claiming responsibility for the attack, but the police have yet to reveal details. Die Welt newspaper and Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported online that the unsigned note began with the phrase, “In the name of Allah”. The letter demanded Germany recall its Tornado aircraft being used for reconnaissance in the US led multi-national coalition fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. The letter also demanded “the closure of the Ramstein Air Base, the main airport for American and NATO military forces in Germany.
“From this point on all nonbelieving actors, singers, sports people and other prominent people in Germany and other crusader nations are on the death list of the Islamic State. And that as long as the following demands are not met: Tornados out of Syria. Ramstein Air Base must be closed.”
Police experts said the letter was written in non-fluent awkward German.
The match was postponed until Wednesday night.
