German prosecutors said Friday they were
investigating a case in which a 12-year-old boy allegedly tried to
detonate a home-made nail bomb at a Christmas market.
News weekly Focus first reported the
case, saying a German-Iraqi child had plotted the attack, possibly after
being radicalised by Islamic State group jihadists.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman
Steffen Seibert said “a report like this is frightening” but declined
further comment, saying the matter was in the hands of prosecutors.
The home-made device — a glass jar
filled with a combustible powder and nails — was discovered on December 5
in the western city of Ludwigshafen and destroyed by a police bomb
squad.
Stefan Biehl of the federal prosecution
service, which handles terrorism cases, told AFP that “I can confirm
that we have started an investigation based on the discovery of a nail
bomb in Ludwigshafen”.
Focus magazine, citing unnamed judicial
and security sources, said the boy was thought to have been “strongly
religiously radicalised” and possibly received instructions from an
unknown IS member.
The report said the boy first tried to detonate the device at the city’s Christmas market on November 26.
Then, on December 5, he allegedly hid
the explosive with a detonator in a backpack in bushes near the city’s
town hall, where a passer-by spotted it and informed police.
The boy, who is too young to face a German court, was detained and placed into a juvenile care facility, said Focus weekly.
Local prosecutor Hubert Stroeber told
AFP that to call the device a bomb would be an exaggeration. He said
that although the powder was combustible, it was unclear whether it
would have exploded. -AFP
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