Islamist suspect detained in Dortmund club bus blast case

German police on Wednesday arrested a suspect with "Islamist links" after the previous day's bomb attack on the bus of Borussia Dortmund football club ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first-leg against Monaco here, according to a BBC report.

The explosion triggered by three explosive objects happened in Hoechsten district of the western German city of Dortmund, forcing postponement of the match to Wednesday.

Prosecutors also said one of the three explosives used in Tuesday evening's attack contained metal strips, BBC reported.

A spokeswoman for Germany's federal state prosecutor in Karlsruhe, Frauke Koehler, said: "Two suspects from the Islamist spectrum have become the focus of our investigation. The apartments of both were searched, and one of the two has been detained."

Two letters claiming responsibility for the attack were being investigated, they said.

Sky reported that three identical letters left at the scene of the blasts reportedly linked the attack to German involvement in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.

They mentioned the Berlin Christmas market attack carried out by an IS-inspired terrorist in 2016, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

The letters, reportedly written in German, began: "In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful."

--IANS

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