German police searched Saturday for a Syrian man after receiving intelligence that he was planning a bombing attack.
Authorities detained three people known to Jaber Albakr, 22, after they found explosives in an apartment they raided while looking for him in the eastern city of Chemnitz, Saxony police spokesman Tom Bernhardt said. Two were taken into custody near the Chemnitz train station, and a third was apprehended in downtown Chemnitz.
Police were questioning the three, hoping they had information that might help them find the suspect.
"We have to assume that he is dangerous," Bernhardt said.
Authorities didn't say how long Albakr had been in Germany, and Bernhardt said it was unclear whether he was one among the close to 1 million asylum-seekers who entered the country in the last year.
Police called on the public to phone them with any information on Albakr, who was last seen in Chemnitz wearing a black hooded top with a bright pattern on the front.
"The search for the suspect is ongoing," Saxony state police tweeted. "At the moment, however, we do not know where he is and what he is carrying with him. Be careful."
A series of attacks hit Germany this summer. The Islamic State group claimed two in late July — one on a train near Wurzburg and another at a music festival in Ansbach — that wounded 20 people. Police shot and killed the assailants in both incidents.
Two other attacks, including a deadly mall shooting in Munich, were unrelated to Islamic extremism, police said.
