German authorities arrested two men yesterday suspected of plotting an al Qaeda suicide attack in Iraq.

The federal prosecutor's office identified the arrested men as Ibrahim Mohammed K., a 29-year-old Iraqi believed to be a high-ranking al Qaeda figure, and Yasser Abu S., a 31-year-old stateless Palestinian.

Police raided four homes in the western cities of Mainz and Bonn early yesterday. The men, both arrested in Mainz, are accused of belonging to a foreign terrorist organisation. Both had been under surveillance since October.

Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm told a news conference the Iraqi had recruited the second suspect last September as a future suicide bomber in Iraq. He said there was no indication they planned an attack in Germany.

They planned to pretend that Yasser Abu S. had been killed in a car accident in Egypt and claim over €800,000 from a life insurance policy to fund the suicide bombing and other attacks.

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