ARAB-EUROPEAN RELATIONS - July 3 - Seven Islamic Radicals Detained In Hamburg.

German police raid apartments and a bookstore in Hamburg and detain seven suspected Islamic radicals - all men aged 28 to 51 - who include Moroccans, Egyptians, Afghans and one German citizen. Among those detained is Abdelghani Mzoudi, a 29-year-old UAE national and a roommate of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers Mohammad Atta. German officials described the raid as a pre-emptive strike against a group attempting to build a new terrorist cell. All of the detained men were questioned, photographed, fingerprinted and later released for lack of evidence that they planed to commit terrorist acts. Hamburg police spokesman Reinhard Fallak said: "We had a suspicion that something was growing, so we did something before it could". Another police official said: "Plans with concrete targets have not yet been found". Police officials said one of the suspects, a man who had worked as an archivist for the state police in Hamburg, fell under suspicion for credit card fraud, and surveillance then led the authorities to most of the others. Andreas Croll, head of a special police team that watched the suspected cell, said: "The group strives for a worldwide holy state and does not accept the free democratic constitutional structure". The suspects met regularly at the Attawhid bookshop near Al Quds mosque in Hamburg, where Atta and other members of the terrorist cell he led had prayed. The men were heard saying they wanted to "give their lives for Islam", Hamburg police officials said. The group employed "secret knocks" to gain entry to meetings at the bookstore.