Plan to bomb Holocaust centre in Hungary foiled

HUNGARY: A Hungarian dentist of Palestinian origin has been arrested in Budapest during a visit by the Israeli president on …

HUNGARY: A Hungarian dentist of Palestinian origin has been arrested in Budapest during a visit by the Israeli president on suspicion he was planning to bomb at the city's Holocaust museum. Two Syrians were also detained on related charges.

Israeli officials and diplomats had earlier spoken of three Arab suspects arrested in the Hungarian capital on suspicion they were planning to kill President Moshe Katsav.

But senior police officials denied that President Katsav was the target of the planned attack.

"There is no connection whatsoever between today's official visit by the Israeli president and the police action taken this morning," said national police commissioner Mr Laszlo Salgo.

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Monitored phone calls made by the suspect revealed that he had asked acquaintances for explosives "to blow up a Jewish museum," said police Lieut Col Attila Petofi. The only permanent Jewish museum in the capital is the Holocaust Memorial Centre to be inaugurated by Mr Katsav on Thursday.

There had been speculation that the conspiracy was a possible attempt to retaliate for Israel's March assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas.

But Hungarian police named no link to Hamas, and Lieut Col Petofi said there was no immediate link to al-Qaeda, although that possibility was not ruled out. - (AP)