Weiterstadt prison bombing

JVA Weiterstadt prison building, pictured 2010

On 27 March 1993, the Red Army Faction (RAF) bombed and destroyed a newly built prison in Weiterstadt, near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. It was the RAF's last major action before it dissolved.^[1]

At least three armed and masked men and a woman climbed a high wall and entered the guardhouse around 1 am. The terrorists tied the 10 guards and locked them in a van near a landfill. They then brought in five cargoes with 200 kg of explosives. At 5:12 am, the explosives were detonated.^[2]

The Weiterstadt prison took eight years to build and cost 250 million Marks ($155 million). It was designed to be multi-use and high-tech. The blast managed to destroy the administration building and much of its security system.^[3] At the time the prison was not holding inmates yet - they were expected by May. Over $90 million in damages was caused.^[4]

The prison had to be rebuilt, which took another four years when it opened and received inmates in May 1997.^[5]

Fourteen years later in 2007, using DNA analysis, detectives identified three perpetrators - Burkhard Garweg, Ernst-Volker Wilhelm Staub and Daniela Klette. Klette had already been wanted over the American embassy sniper attack in 1991. However all the three suspects are at large.^[2][6]

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