Plot by German Cell Detailed on Internet

Islamic Group Claims Ties to Suspects

BERLIN, Sept. 11 -- A terrorist cell broken up in Germany last week was planning to attack the huge Ramstein Air Base, a U.S. and NATO facility, and a U.S. consulate by the end of the year, German authorities reported Tuesday, citing an assertion of responsibility posted by a Central Asian militant group.

The Islamic Jihad Union, based in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, asserted in an Internet statement that it was behind the plot, according to the Interior Ministry, which said it considered the statement authentic.

The ministry said the group claimed it had also intended to target Uzbek diplomatic posts in Germany. Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic and a northern neighbor of Afghanistan, has a consulate in Frankfurt and an embassy in Berlin.

The stated motive for the attacks was to force Germany to close its military base in the southern Uzbek city of Termez, near the Afghan border. Germany opened the base in 2002 and has used it as a transfer point and supply base for its 3,000 troops serving in Afghanistan.

Germany is the only NATO or European country that is still allowed to operate a base in Uzbekistan. In 2005, in response to a diplomatic dust-up over human rights, the Uzbek government evicted the U.S. military from an air base at Karshi-Khanabad that it had been allowed to use for operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The deterioration in relations came after Uzbek security forces conducted a brutal crackdown against an uprising in the city of Andijan in May 2005, in which hundreds of people were believed to have been killed.

The Bush administration and many European governments issued protests and called for an independent inquiry into the uprising. The European Union imposed sanctions, including banning top Uzbek officials from traveling to Europe.

After the Andijan killings, Uzbekistan also decreed that other NATO members be given the boot from the country. In the end, however, it allowed Germany to keep its base in Termez after officials in Berlin agreed to bolster financial aid and military cooperation.

Germany also withheld criticism of the government of President Islam Karimov and later lobbied the E.U. to withdraw the sanctions. It allowed the Uzbek national police chief to visit Frankfurt for medical treatment, despite the travel ban.

The Islamic Jihad Union is an offshoot of a larger network, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The Karimov government in Tashkent has portrayed the parent group as its leading internal security threat; it has also been branded a terrorist organization by the Bush administration. The State Department has blamed the network for carrying out suicide bombings against the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Tashkent in July 2004.

The Islamic Jihad Union is a lesser-known organization, but German authorities have accused it of running training camps in remote areas of Pakistan. Prosecutors said the three suspects arrested in Germany last week -- two German citizens and a Turkish national -- had attended the camps and were acting on behalf of the group in Europe. Authorities said they had assembled bombmaking chemicals and were planning mass attacks against Americans in Germany.

"We're pleased authorities were able to disrupt this plot," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "This is a reminder of the threat we all face from extremist groups and why we must continue to pursue terrorists who want to take innocent life around the world."

Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.