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The Syrian terror suspect who was arrested over an alleged bomb plot in Germany has been found dead in his cell.
Jabhar al Bakr was arrested in Leipzig in the south of the country on Monday after police foiled a plot to bomb Berlin airport.
The 22-year-old asylum seeker was caught after being detained by three fellow Syrian refugees who overpowered him and tied him to a sofa before calling the police – ending a two-day manhunt.
German media reported that al Bakr had been on hunger strike and was subject to round-the-clock surveillance.
Al Bakr, who is originally from Damascus province, went on the run after police found 1.5kg of explosives "more dangerous than TNT" in his flat in the city of Chemnitz on Saturday.
Police believed he was planning a similar attack to those carried out in France and Belgium in November 2015 and March 2016.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said: "According to what we know, the preparations in Chemnitz are similar to the preparations for the attacks in Paris and Brussels".
He said al Bakr had links to Isis.
Three others were arrested in connection with the plot, one in Chemnitz city centre and two others at the railway station.
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by IsisShow all 9 1 /9Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Policemen outside Rouen's cathedral during the funeral of Jacques Hamel, the priest who was killed in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy on 26 July during a hostage-taking claimed by Islamic State group
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two jihadists, both 19, slit Hamel's throat while he was celebrating mass in an attack that shocked France as well as the Catholic Church
Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Muslims place flowers and hold a minute of silence in front of the church if Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, western France, where French priest Jacques Hamel was killed on 26 July
Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Two people hold each other by the new makeshift memorial in Nice, in tribute to the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack at the Promenade des Anglais
Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the truck attack that killed 84 people in Nice on France's national holiday. Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, 31, smashed a 19-tonne truck into a packed crowd of people in the Riviera city celebrating Bastille Day
Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police work at a site where a Syrian migrant set off an explosive device in Ansbach, southern Germany, on 25 July, killing himself and wounding a dozen others
Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis A Syrian migrant set off an explosion at a bar in southern Germany that killed himself and wounded a dozen others in the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had intended to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket
Friebe/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis Police officers walk along train tracks in Wuerzburg southern Germany on 19 July, a day after a man attacked train passengers with an axe. German authorities said they had found a hand-painted IS flag among the belongings of the man, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who seriously injured four members of a family of tourists from Hong Kong in his rampage
Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images
Terrorism in 2016: Terror attacks in Europe claimed by Isis German police killed a teenage assailant after he attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg, southerg Germany with an axe and a knife on 18 July, seriously wounding three people
Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP/Getty Images
It comes amid growing anger about Chancellor Angela Merkel's "open door policy" towards refugees.
Last month, far right group Alternative for Germany made significant gains in the Berlin state elections – winning 11.5 per cent of the vote enabling it to enter the state parliament for the first time.
The party campaigns for a closure of the borders with its leader Frauke Petry saying police should be prepared to shoot refugees attempting to enter the country "if necessary" .
Over the summer there were a number of attempts by Syrian asylum seekers to attack targets in Germany – including a failed asylum seeker who blew himself up outside a music festival after failing to get inside and an Afghan teenager attacking train passengers with an axe in Würzburg.
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