German arrest over Tunisia blast

Elissia, an eight-year-old German girl, was among those injured in the blast

BERLIN, Germany -- German police have arrested a man in connection with a truck explosion at a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 15 people, including 10 German tourists.

The suspect -- whose identity is unknown -- was arrested in the western city of Duisburg as police raided five homes in Germany on Monday. The man had been under observation for some time, federal prosecutors said.

No formal charges have been made. Prosecutors are questioning the man and have 24 hours from the time of the arrest to charge the suspect or release him.

Germany's Stern magazine said police traced a phone call from the driver or passenger in the truck to a contact in Germany who had links to Islamist circles.

MORE STORIES Tunisia synagogue toll rises    AL JIHAD • Primary goal is to overthrow Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state.   • Divided into two factions, one led by Ayman al-Zawahiri -- a key leader of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network.   • Has threatened retaliation against United States for its incarceration of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman.   • Original incarnation of group claimed responsibility for 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.   More on al Jihad

Tunisia has described last Thursday's blast as a "tragic accident," but German federal prosecutors told CNN they had "more and more" indications that the explosion might have been deliberate.

Three German federal police officials are in Tunisia assisting with the investigation into the incident.

Editors at two London-based Arabic-language newspapers -- Al-Quds Al-Arabi and Al Hayat Arab -- each said they received a fax from a group calling itself al Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last week's blast at a synagogue in Tunisia.

The fax, which the editors said they believed was genuine, said the bombing was meant to avenge their friends in Palestine.

Al-Quds said it also received what appeared to be a copy of the will of the bomber, Nazar Nawar. In that will, according to Al-Quds, Nawar said he sought revenge against Israel.

Ten injured German tourists flown back home for treatment remained in hospitals on Monday, several in critical condition.

Although the Tunisian government said the explosion was a tragic accident, Israel suspected foul play and witnesses told Reuters that the chain of events appeared suspicious.

Clearing up at the synagogue after the blast which killed 15

"Preliminary indications show that a truck equipped with a gas tank hit the pavement and outer fence of El Ghriba shrine," a senior Tunisian government official said last week.

After Israel's foreign ministry said it believed the deadly explosion was a terrorist attack an independent local group, the Committee for Liberty and Human Rights Respect in Tunisia (CRLDHT), also cast doubt on the official explanation.

"The government version is questionable particularly if we take into account that the synagogue was in a dead-end road," it said in a statement.

Witnesses said the truck had taken an unusual route.

"The driver took a bizarre non-tarred track which cuts through olive trees and the truck blew up about three metres from the synagogue outer wall," a reporter at the scene later told Reuters.

"People who witnessed the incident said the driver outfoxed police guarding the synagogue, as few people knew about or usually took that track."