German police detain three suspected extremists

The three men were detained on Tuesday evening on the highway from Salzburg, Austria to Munich, near the Bavarian town of Rosenheim following an anonymous tip-off.

State police said that the Kosovan men were being held on "suspicion of preparing a serious state-threatening crime," but they have stressed that there is no evidence of a connection with Tuesday's attacks in Brussels.

But on Wednesday afternoon, a state prosecutor's spokesman told the AFP news agency that initial suspicions had not been confirmed. The men were not charged, though investigations are continuing.

Local broadcaster "Bayerischer Rundfunk" (BR) reported on Tuesday that the suspects were traveling in a silver Mercedes licensed in Belgium, and that the three men, aged between 36 and 46, were two brothers and a companion.

An arrest warrant had already been issued for one of the brothers, for evading his deportation back to Kosovo from Germany.

The three men, who worked for a Belgian construction company, were also carrying 10,000 euros ($11,200) in cash, which they said they needed to buy tools and a car.

A Bavarian police spokesman confirmed to DW that the details of BR's report were all correct.

At least 31 people were killed and another 260 injured in the attacks at Brussels Zaventem Airport and a subway station in the city's European Quarter on Tuesday morning.

bk, ksb/msh (AFP, dpa)