Suspect arrested over explosion at mosque in Germany

By The Associated Press

BERLIN – German authorities have arrested a man suspected of setting off homemade explosive devices outside a mosque and a conference centre in Dresden in September, prosecutors said Friday.

The 29-year-old man from Dresden was arrested on Thursday. Authorities also seized objects that could be used to make explosives, and DNA evidence linked the suspect to the blasts, prosecutors said.

The entrance of the Fatih Camii mosque was damaged in the explosion on Sept. 26. An imam with his wife and two sons were inside at the time, but weren’t hurt.

The second device exploded shortly afterward on a terrace between a hotel and a conference centre. The man is also suspected to have placed a fake bomb on a bridge in Dresden three days later.

The explosions came a few days before events marking Germany’s national day in Dresden, where the anti-Islam PEGIDA movement is based.

The Bild daily reported that the suspect had appeared as a speaker at a PEGIDA event in the summer of 2015.

The head of the regional police office responsible for extremism, Bernd Merbitz, said that “we are also aware of that,” news agency dpa reported. He didn’t give further details.

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