Earlier this month we noted a report of bombs found on German trains, and today German authorities released more details on what was apparently intended to be an atrocity on the scale of the July 7 bombings in London: German Police Release Bomb Suspect Images, Set Reward.

The German Criminal Police Office on Friday released images taken from a surveillance camera of the two suspects in the attempted bombing of two trains. Police believe the plot was an attempted terror attack.

The German investigators working on the case surrounding the two suitcase bombs found on trains in Koblenz and Dortmund at the end of July released images obtained from surveillance cameras of two suspects in the suspected terror plot.

The authorities announced that there would be a reward of 50,000 ($64,195) euros for any information which would lead to the capture of the two young men in the grainy photos, who were both described as being from “southern countries.”

The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) revealed that the evidence had led to one suspect being identified, but so far they have no details of his background and activities. They warn that the man could still be at large. The authorities also revealed that they are circulating details within the intelligence community of the second suspect who may have been involved in the plot. “We have very serious concerns about the background of this intended attack,” the security source added.

The BKA believe that Germany was being targeted for terrorist attacks and that  if the explosive devices had been detonated, their size and construction would have created devastation and death on a scale reminiscent of the July 7, 2005 attacks on the London transport system.
 
Both of the suitcases discovered on July 31 contained gas cylinders rigged up to an ignition mechanism and had been left in two regional trains which usually run at the height of the commuter rush hour. The suitcases were discovered by rail staff when the trains terminated at the two hub stations. The construction of the devices and the potential impact the explosions would have had suggests a sophisticated plot.
 
The BKA believes that the planned attack could have been the work of a terrorist organization operating in Germany.

Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that a bag found in one of the suitcases came from the Lebanese capital of Beirut, but German officials wouldn’t confirm the story.

UPDATE at 8/18/06 9:58:48 am:

Davids Medienkritik points out that this attack was not foiled by German authorities—they simply got lucky. Suspects Sought in Near Terror Disaster on German Trains.

According to reports circulating throughout the German media today, two suitcase bombs placed by two unidentified men very nearly went off on regional trains in Dortmund and Koblenz at the end of July. A deadly simultaneous bombing was only averted because the bombs were technically defective. Had they detonated, German authorities believe that a mass casualty event similar to the recent attacks in London could have been the result.

Police believe that a terrorist motive is probable, particularly because the suitcases contained Arabic writing and telephone numbers from Lebanon. The men who placed the bombs also strongly appear to be of Middle Eastern origin. German authorities have published further images of clues, the bombs and the suspects and are offering rewards to anyone with key information on their identities and/or origins. The bombings were likely intended to “send a message to the West” over the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.