Bombs on German Trains: A Middle Eastern Connection? (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

A leak from the investigation into a pair of unexploded bombs found on trains in Germany this week has produced a strange detail — a bag printed in Arabic. German officials won’t confirm anything, but the case has ignited a national debate about rail security.

Two suitcase bombs found in German trains early this week have set off a debate on the safety of the German rail system.

Two suitcase bombs discovered early this week in western German train stations may be traceable to the Middle East according to Friday reports. Both bombs — packed in abandoned pieces of luggage and left on separate trains — were found by officials in lost-and-found centers on Monday and Tuesday. One package allegedly contained a plastic bag printed with Arabic writing. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the bag came from the Lebanese capital of Beirut, but German officials wouldn’t confirm the story. “We don’t give out details on the results of an ongoing investigation,” said Ullrich Schultheis, a spokesman for the German Attorney General’s office in Karlsruhe.

Railway officials found one suitcase on Monday aboard a regional train in northwestern Germany and unpacked it at the lost-and-found office of the Dortmund station. The other was found Sunday on a train between Mönchengladbach and Koblenz, and unpacked Tuesday at the Koblenz station. The gas-canister bombs in both cases were professionally-built, according to Jürgen Kleis, head of the team of detectives on the case; other sources added that they were filled with too much gas to explode.