Germany arrests terror suspects

HAMBURG, Germany (CNN) -- Six men, including one already under investigation in connection to the September 11 attacks, are in police custody on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organisation, German federal prosecutors said.

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Following early morning searches of six apartments and a bookstore in Germany, investigators began questioning the men in Hamburg about forming an Islamic fundamentalist group with the aim of carrying out attacks, Hamburg police said in a statement.

Another person was questioned in Italy after his home was searched there, and police are looking for an eighth suspect, police added.

German federal prosecutors said the suspects had been meeting regularly at the Attawhid bookshop near the al-Quds mosque, which serves mostly North African Muslims and where Mohamed Atta and others linked to the Sept. 11 attacks used to pray.

"Their meetings gave the impression of a conspiracy because they were held secretly and in a suspicious fashion," said Frauke Schueten, a federal prosecutor's spokesman.

The federal prosecutors office added that Wednesday's search was conducted to produce proof, find out about the structure and aims of the organisation and also to discover members of the organisation who have not yet been identified.

"They give the impression of having an extreme fundamentalist and anti-West attitude," a police spokesman said.

Prosecutors did not elaborate on the group's aims, but said that, "indications of plans with concrete targets have not yet been found." They have 24 hours to make formal arrest charges or release the suspects.

One of the men detained by Hamburg police, identified as Abdelghani M., 29, was already under investigation for suspected ties to the al Qaeda terrorist group behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

Prosecutors added there was no indication that the group participated in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Three of the suicide pilots in those attacks -- including ringleader Mohamed Atta -- lived and studied undetected in Hamburg.

Police said initial suspicions about the suspects emerged in February following computer profiling that was introduced in the wake of Sept.11.

"This action is to produce proof, and prevent any avoidable risks," said Udo Nagel, president of the Hamburg police department in a statement.

"The measures are to show that police in Hamburg are aware of terrorist groups and to prevent any terrorist actions."

Hamburg police said the eight suspects were between the ages of 28 and 51 and originally from Morocco, Afghanistan and Egypt.

They identified the suspects as Abdelhak S., 32; Hatem S., 28; Abderrazek L., 39; Abdelghani M., 29; El Mostafa T., 42; Asadullah M., 48; Lahoucine S., 32; and Mohamed J., 51 -- the last of whom is a German national.

Police did not indicate which of the suspects were in Hamburg police custody nor which one was still being sought by authorities.