German police close streets near hospital

HAMBURG, Germany -- Police closed streets around a military hospital Tuesday after U.S. authorities warned that Islamic militants planned suicide car bomb attacks against the facility. The intelligence warning from the United States named two alleged suicide attackers from Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to al-Qaida that planned to carry out the attack on the Bundeswehr hospital, said state Interior Minister Dirk Nockemann. The alleged suicide attackers traveled to Hamburg in early December, said Heino Vahldiek, head of the Hamburg branch of the federal security agency. Police closed streets about 2:30 p.m. around the hospital in the suburb of Wandsbek.

But Germany's top security official called the indications "unsubstantiated" and criticized his colleagues in Hamburg for broadcasting the threat to the public.

"It is unfortunate that the indications were made public too swiftly, making it more difficult to follow up on them," Interior Minister Otto Schily said in a statement.

U.S. officials believe Ansar al-Islam, a group based in northern Iraq, has links to al-Qaida. It is suspected of recruiting holy warriors in Europe for suicide missions in Iraq.

The northern German city of Hamburg was the base for an al-Qaida cell that included three of the Sept. 11 attackers.

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin refused to comment on the reported threat Tuesday.

Police said that after several hours of searching the area around the hospital they found nothing suspicious and made no arrests.

Nockemann described the information about the planned attack as vague, and said there were also threats against U.S. military installations in the Frankfurt area. But the U.S. Air Force Europe said they had received no notification of a terrorist threat.

At the nearby Wandsbek-Gartenstadt subway station, officers with submachine-guns and bulletproof vests checked the identity cards of residents trying to reach their homes.

The area around the clinic swarmed with police officers, who had dozens of vehicles at the scene.

In November, Hamburg police acting on an Italian warrant arrested Algerian Abderrazak Mahdjoub, the alleged leader of a ring suspected of seeking recruits for a training camp run by Ansar al-Islam.

Italian investigators have said Mahdjoub had contacts with two key Ansar al-Islam suspects arrested during raids in Italy in March and April.