Borussia Dortmund attack: 'Islamist' suspect held

German police have detained a suspect with "Islamist
 links" following a bomb attack on the bus of the Borussia Dortmund football team.

Prosecutors also said one of the three explosive devices
contained metal strips.

Two letters claiming the attack on Tuesday evening were being investigated, they said.

Prosecutors are treating the blasts as a terrorist attack
 but say the precise motive is unclear at present.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday said the attack 
was "an appalling crime" and praised the fans of both 
teams for coming together.


Letter's demands


A spokeswoman for Germany's federal prosecutor, Frauke
Koehler, said: "Two suspects from the Islamist spectrum
 have become the focus of our investigation. Both of their apartments were searched, and one of the two has been detained."

The blast radius of the attack was about 100m. 
Prosecutors said it was lucky the casualties were not worse.

Ms Koehler said a piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in the headrest of one of the seats on the team bus.

She said three copies of the same letter were found near 
the site of the blasts, indicating that the attacker had links
 to so-called Islamic State (IS). IS had said it carried out the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in December that 
killed 12 people.

Ms Koehler said the letter demanded "the withdrawal of [German] tornado fighter jets from Syria and, I quote, the closure of Ramstein airbase."

The text is being analysed to see if it is authentic.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said the letter 
began with the phrase "in the name of Allah".

But it said it was possible the perpetrators were
 deliberately trying to mislead the investigation.

A second letter was published online, in which left-wing extremist groups claimed to have carried out the attack, 
but prosecutors had reason to believe this letter was not authentic.

What happened on Tuesday evening?

Borussia Dortmund players were on their way to their 
home Champions League quarter-final first-leg match
 against Monaco, when three explosive charges detonated, police said.

Spain international Marc Bartra underwent an operation 
after breaking a bone in his wrist. No other players were hurt, but a police officer on a motorbike escorting the bus suffered trauma from the noise of the explosions.

Several reports said the explosives had been hidden in a hedge. Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Burki told Swiss
 news outlet Blick that the bus had turned on to the main road when there was a loud noise.

The players ducked to the floor of the bus, not knowing if 
there would be more blasts, he said.

Captain Marcel Schmelzer added "we're all in shock" but 
their thoughts were with their injured colleague.

The 80,000-capacity Signal Iduna Park was later 
evacuated safely and the match postponed until 18:45 local time (16:45 GMT) on Wednesday.

Who could be behind the attack?

Despite the apparent claim of an Islamist motive, the
 attack does not have much in common with previous such attacks, says according to a correspondent in Berlin, Damien McGuinness told the ERICGOSSIP. The explosives were not designed to cause maximum damage in a crowd - or to target the stadium itself, which is several kilometres away.

Either left-wing or right-wing extremists could also be to blame. How have people reacted?

Monaco fans at the stadium were praised for their chants 
of support for Dortmund.

Social media also carried offers from Dortmund residents 
to Monaco fans in need of a bed for the night on #bedforawayfans .

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said the football organising bodycondemned the incident and wished Bartra a "speedy recovery".