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Terrorism arrests in Frankfurt

September 8, 2014

Three German nationals have been arrested at Frankfurt airport upon returning from east Africa, according to media reports. The trio are suspected of belonging to the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

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Flugzeug Landung Sonne
Image: Fotolia/Patrik Dietrich

A spokeswoman from the prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe confirmed to the DPA news agency on Monday the three had been arrested over the weekend.

Regional broadcaster SWRinfo reported they had been taken into custody on Saturday after returning from Kenya and were suspected members of al-Shabab.

The SWR report said the men had returned to the country because they no longer wanted to fight in combat for al-Shabab. It added there were no indications that the three had planned an attack in Germany.

Al-Shabab is currently active in Somalia and Kenya. The group was responsible for an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi last year that 67 people dead.

The leader of al-Shabab, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a US airstrike in Somalia last week.

dr/hc (dpa, AFP)

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