A Syrian man arrested on suspicion of plotting a jihadist bomb attack on a Berlin airport was found dead in his cell after an apparent suicide, sparking outrage over a "judicial scandal". Jaber al-Bakr, who was arrested two days earlier on Monday following a nationwide manhunt after police found explosives in his apartment, was discovered dead in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig, reported Germany's Bild daily and national news agency DPA. "Jaber al-Bakr took his own life in the Leipzig prison hospital," the Government of the eastern, ex-communist state of Saxony said in a statement, without elaborating. Politicians and the suspect's defence lawyer reacted with outrage over the death in custody which followed what was widely seen as a botched police search that ended only thanks to the three other Syrian asylum seekers. Investigators said the explosives were "almost ready or even ready for use," and that he was apparently preparing a "bomb, possibly in the form of a suicide vest".

Source: New Zealand Herald October 13, 2016 16:07 UTC