German Terror Suspect Said Arrested

KARLSRUHE, Germany (AP) - Canadian authorities have arrested a German man suspected of membership in a shadowy terrorist group responsible for bombings and shootings in Germany in the 1980s and early 1990s, German prosecutors said Friday. Canadian authorities identified the man as Lothar Ebke, 46. They said he was arrested at his home in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Thursday night at the request of German officials. The suspect was being held pending extradition, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. A German court issued a warrant for Ebke on March 9 on suspicion that he was involved with bombings blamed on the Revolutionary Cells terrorist group. On April 18, federal prosecutors arrested a 51-year-old man, identified as Matthias B., in Berlin on similar charges. Both allegedly belonged to the Revolutionary Cells from 1985 until 1993 or 1994. They were allegedly involved, along with others, in the bombing of a social welfare office for asylum seekers in Berlin on Feb. 6, 1987, and in an attempted bombing in Berlin on Jan. 15, 1991. They were also being sought in connection with shootings in Berlin in 1986 and 1987. A federal judge and former city official survived the shootings. Three other suspected members of the Revolutionary Cells were arrested in Germany last December. Members of the group are believed to have stolen more than 220 pounds of commercial explosives in 1987. Most of it has never been recovered, prosecutors say.