Suitcase Bomber Confesses

Four Lebanese men accused of involvement in a plot to blow up trains in Germany last year are set to begin trial in Lebanon on April 11. According to judicial sources, the main suspect, Jihad Hamad, has reiterated an earlier confession that he planted one of the explosives.

During a pre-trial appearance in a Beirut court on Monday, Hamad said his intentions "were not to kill, but to stop people from defaming the image of the prophet Mohammed." He referred to caricatures depicting the Mohammed that were originally published in a Danish daily in September 2005 that sparked protests across the Muslim world.

German police had already supposed that the cartoons had triggered the bombing plot planned for July 31, 2006. The bombs, hidden on regional trains in Dortmund and Koblenz, failed to explode due to detonator faults.

Suspected terrorists are all Sunni fundamentalists

Hamad was arrested in Lebanon on Aug. 24, 2006. The other accused terrorists include Khaled al-Hajj Dib, Ayman Hawa and Khalil Ahmed al-Boubou, who were arrested in northern Lebanon along with Hamad.

Two other men have been accused of being co-conspirators: Youssef al-Hajj Dib, who was arrested in Germany and remains incarcerated here, and his brother Saddam Hajj Dib, who is reportedly being held in Syria.

If convicted, the four could face 25 years in prison for attempted murder and arson.

A Lebanese security source told German news agency DPA that the main link between the six suspects was that all are Sunni fundamentalists from northern Lebanon. This region is a source of Sunni fundamentalist groups who support the views of al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden.

Lebanese security sources said al-Hajj Dib and Hamad, the two main suspects, have been influenced by the late al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi.