Germany Bans 16 Terror-Linked Groups
STEPHEN GRAHAM, The Associated Press, BERLIN (AP) - Police stormed homes and froze bank accounts across Germany Thursday after outlawing another 16 groups linked to a jailed Islamic militant accused of plotting an airplane attack in Turkey.

Authorities raided 100 offices and homes as the ban came into effect overnight, the Interior Ministry said. It did not say if there had been any arrests.

The government said the groups, spread from Tuebingen in the south to Osnabrueck in the north, were part of the Caliphate State organization run by Turkish militant Muhammed Metin Kaplan.

That group, along with 20 affiliates, was banned last December under legal powers granted after the Sept. 11 attacks, which were plotted by Islamic extremists living in Germany.

Cologne-based Caliphate State openly calls for the overthrow of Turkey's secular government and its replacement with an Islamic state. The organization was under observation by German authorities, but they had been unable to act before because of strict laws protecting religious groups.

Kaplan's organization "endangers internal security as well as important German interests - especially in foreign policy," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Interior Ministery Otto Schily has described Caliphate State as a "breeding ground for terrorists," and said that banning it could lead to the expulsion of many extrem who have been granted asylum in Germany. Kaplan is challenging the ban.

No connection has been established between his group and the Sept. 11 attacks, but German investigators have said some members traveled to Afghanistan to meet with supporters of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in 1996 or 1997.

The group was also banned because of its anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric and for its efforts to build up its own taxation and legal systems. Germany has strict rules against the promotion of racial hatred.

Kaplan is serving four years for incitement in the killing of a rival cleric in Berlin in 1997.

He is wanted in Turkey on charges of treason. Authorities there allege he masterminded a failed 1998 attempt to crash a plane laden with explosives into the mausoleum of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Germany has said it may hand Kaplan over to Turkey when his jail term expires in March. The Turkish Parliament recently abolished the death penalty, removing a major obstacle to his extradition.

The Interior Ministry said two further Islamic organizations remain under investigation on suspicion of belonging to Kaplan's group.