BERLIN • The authorities are investigating whether a 12-year-old boy made a bomb and planted it at a traditional Christmas market in his home town in south-western Germany.
News of the bomb plot was reported last Friday by Focus, a news magazine, raising fresh concerns over the potential threats from young people lured by Islamist extremists and radicalised using technology such as cellphones.
The boy, identified only as an Iraqi-German from Ludwigshafen, has been placed under the protection of local youth services, officials said last Friday.
German law does not allow minors younger than 14 to be charged with crimes, which would leave investigators to widen their focus on the boy's friends and family, while seeking to protect him.
A spokesman for German federal prosecutors declined last Friday to provide any details about the case, other than to confirm discovery of the device.
Ms Eva Lohse, mayor of Ludwigshafen, a small city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, said city representatives met state security officials last Friday to discuss the case.
She added: "The boy who is accused of plotting a bomb attack in Ludwigshafen is in a secure place, so that he does not pose any danger."
On Dec 5, police in Ludwigshafen evacuated the area around Rathaus Centre complex, which houses shops and the city hall, after an explosive device was found nearby.
The next day, the police reported that "a 12-year-old had placed a glass with pyrotechnic substances in a black bag into a garbage can" near the centre.
But the incident largely escaped public notice until the magazine report came out.
According to the state's criminal police, the device included materials gleaned from fireworks and sparklers. Police determined that "the mixture was flammable, but not capable of exploding".
The device found on Dec 5 was the second one the boy planted, local public broadcaster SWR reported, citing unnamed security sources.
A similar device was found at the city's Christmas market on Nov 26, the station reported, adding that nails had been attached to the exterior of both devices.
NYTIMES
