GERMANY RELEASES TERRORIST SUSPECTS

Two Somali-born men hauled off an airplane at the Cologne airport last month minutes before takeoff and arrested on terrorism charges have been released for lack of evidence. The investigation is continuing and authorities believe that attacks were being planned. On September 26, police stormed a Dutch airlines plane at the Cologne-Bonn airport just minutes before it left for Amsterdam. Prosecutors said the two men were planning an “imminent attack.” A police spokesman had said the 23-year-old Somali and 24-year-old German born in Mogadishu wanted to carry out a “holy war” and that officers had found letters in their apartment referring to an attack. Suspicions remain, but evidence lacking. But the investigation since the arrests has floundered. The evidence was not strong enough to justify charges against the men, who were both living in western Germany.