German Terrorists Sentenced to Prison After Foiled Bomb Attack

A German court sentenced four men belonging to an Islamist terrorist cell to as many as 12 years in prison for their part in a thwarted bomb attack that could have been the worst in Germany’s post-World War II history. Fritz Gelowicz, Adem Yilmaz and Daniel Schneider were convicted of conspiracy to kill as many people as possible using liquid explosives and of membership of the outlawed “Islamic Jihad Union,” the Higher Regional Court in Dusseldorf said in a statement today. A fourth man, Atilla Selek, was convicted of supporting the plot from abroad.

Judge Ottmar Breidling cited the “particular danger” of the planned attack as he read out the verdict, and warned that “homegrown terrorism” is on the increase, the court said. The attacks planned by the so-called Sauerland cell, named after the rural region in western Germany where the men were apprehended, were disrupted in a September 2007 raid involving 300 security officers. Police seized hydrogen peroxide-based liquid explosives with more power than those used in the Madrid bombings of March 2004 or the London bombings of July 2005.