German authorities released a Lebanese man arrested in connection with a suspected plan to attack Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a visit to Berlin, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.
The man was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization but was later released, the spokesman said.
Arrest orders were issued on Saturday for three other men held on Friday as suspected members of the militant group Ansar al-Islam after indications the men were planning an attack on Allawi during his visit to Berlin last week.
The orders mean that police can hold the men in custody while an investigation is carried out.
The spokesman confirmed the names of the men as Rafik Y., a 30-year-old arrested in Berlin, Ata R., a 31-year-old arrested in Stuttgart and Masin H., 22, arrested in Augsburg.
Ansar al-Islam is a militant group originating in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. Prosecutors have been investigating its activities in Germany, which authorities say included fund-raising, trafficking and propaganda, since December 2003.
The United States accuses it of working closely with al-Qaida and with the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most prominent leader of the insurgency in Iraq.
Allawi’s visit to Berlin was curtailed after the suspected plot was uncovered, with a number of meetings canceled.
