3 suspected al-Qaeda members held in Germany

German police arrested three suspected members of al Qaeda on Friday, federal prosecutors said, and the newspaper Bild reported that officers had seized large amounts of explosives.

"The accused will be summoned before the examining magistrate of the Federal Court of Justice on Saturday," the office of the Public Prosecutor General said in a statement.     

No further information was given but a news conference was scheduled for 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Saturday in the federal prosecutor's headquarters in Karlsruhe.        

Quoting security sources, Bild said the three, all young Moroccans, were arrested in Duesseldorf and Bochum, both cities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.              

It said federal police became suspicious after monitoring their mobile phones and computer.        

According to Bild, the large quantity of explosives recovered included acetone, a volatile substance popular with militants since it can pass easily through detectors usually designed to locate nitrogen-based compounds.