Germany charges three men in bomb plot against U.S

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's federal prosecutor said on Tuesday it had formally charged two German nationals and one Turk arrested last September and accused of plotting bomb attacks against U.S. installations.

The three men, identified as Fritz G., Adem Y. and Daniel S., had been on the verge of launching the attacks when they were apprehended, officials said after the arrest.

A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said on Tuesday no further details were currently available.

Officials said they had scouted out sites frequented by Americans including discos, bars and airports.

The men belonged to a little-known al Qaeda-affiliated Sunni Muslim group with roots in Uzbekistan called "Islamic Jihad Union", officials said. All three are believed to have trained in militant camps in Pakistan.

They had apparently acquired enough chemical material to make a bomb with explosive power equal to 550 kilograms of TNT.

(Reporting by Hans-Edzard Busemann, writing by Iain Rogers)