TUNISIA: German Interior Minister Mr Otto Schily said yesterday investigations into an explosion at a synagogue in Tunisia last week that killed 15 people, including 10 Germans, appeared to point to it being an attack.
Mr Schily told ZDF public television that clues and eyewitness accounts reinforced Israel's theory that the blast was deliberate.
But Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schröder told reporters yesterday that while there were "signs" the blast had been an attack, "this was not yet certain".
Mr Schröder had told ZDF on Sunday: "There are signs which speak in favour of an attack but also information from the Tunisian authorities which make you think the opposite." He said he hoped the matter would be cleared up quickly.
Mr Schily said German officials were co-operating closely with Tunisian authorities but declined to give details.
The Tunisian authorities have repeatedly said they believe the explosion, which occured last Thursday when an oil tanker hit the wall of the synagogue on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba, was an accident. They are pursuing an investigation.
A German government spokesman said in Berlin yesterday it was clear that Germany and Tunisia had "different interests" in the investigation. He did not elaborate. Three German tourists wounded in the explosion and brought to Berlin for treatment are fighting for their lives. The three are a 40-year-old man, his wife, who is 39, and another woman aged 22.