Tunisia blast probe: Suspect freed

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

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- German authorities say they have released a person detained in connection with the explosion last week of a truck at a synagogue in Tunisia that killed at least 15 people, including 10 German tourists.

The German federal prosecutor's office said it arrested the person on Monday night and said it had 24 hours from the time of the arrest to bring the suspect up on charges or release the person.

But the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that after questioning the person, it determined there was nothing to link to the crime.

Spokeswoman Frauke Scheuten said the arrest was made after a tip to authorities about a telephone call from the North African nation to Germany before the blast, at the Ghriba synagogue, a historic and holy Jewish site on the Tunisian island of Djerba.

MORE STORIES Tunisia synagogue toll rises

She said the call indicated the man may have been acting as a contact.

The German prosecutor's office raided five homes on Monday night and the suspect was taken into custody in the western city of Duisburg. Despite the person's release, the investigation into the blast continues.

The Tunisian government, which had initially called the blast an accident, is still investigating the incident. Israel considers the blast as a terror attack, and the German government said there are growing signs that the incident was deliberate.

"There are more and more indications that lead them to believe it may have been a terrorist act," Scheuten said.

Meanwhile, two London-based Arabic-language newspapers -- Al-Quds Al-Arabi and Al Hayat Arab -- each said they received a fax with a claim of responsibility for last week's blast at the synagogue in Tunisia.

The group listed in the fax that claimed responsibility is the Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Sites.

The Al-Quds Al-Arabi article links the group to al Qaeda and the Al Hayat story says the group that claimed responsibility is close to al Qaeda.

Clearing up at the synagogue after the blast which killed 15

The fax, which the papers' editors said they believed was genuine, said the bombing was meant to avenge the Palestinians.

Al-Quds said it also received what appeared to be a copy of the will of the bomber, Nizar bin Mohammed Nawar, known as Seiful Dinn el-Tunisi. In that will, according to Al-Quds, Nawar said he sought revenge against Israel.

The fax said that Nawar undertook the operation on orders from the Islamic Army. It said he made the attack after much consultation and study.

Synagogues in Europe, notably in France, have been targeted by attackers, and many acts of violence against Jews and Jewish sites in Europe have been reported since the Palestinian intifada began in September 2000. In the most serious case, a synagogue in the southern French city of Marseille was recently burned to the ground.

Also, Stern magazine said that German police eavesdropped on a phone conversation shortly before the explosion. The magazine reported that the driver or a passenger traveling in the truck spoke with a contact in Germany who police believe has links to radical Islamic groups.

The World Jewish Congress said that although the present synagogue was built in 1929, it is believed there has been a continuously used synagogue on the site for the past 1,900 years, making it the oldest synagogue site in North Africa.

The Jews of Djerba are joined by several thousand Jewish pilgrims from around the world in an annual festival to celebrate the minor spring Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer, which comes later this month.