German court clears Algerian in 'IS attack plot' trial

PIC: Defendant Marcel Hesse awaits the verdict in his trial at the court in Bochum, western Germany, on January 31, 2018. (AFP)

GERMANY - A German court Wednesday cleared the second of three defendants in an alleged Islamic State group attack plot after a former suspect was released late last year.

The tribunal has been investigating an alleged plan for coordinated jihadist gun attacks and suicide bombings in the old town centre of the western city of Duesseldorf.

However, on Wednesday the court released a 29-year-old Algerian man, who was identified only as Hamza C. in keeping with privacy rules, citing a lack of evidence against him.

It had last month released the co-accused Jordanian Mahmood B. on similar grounds.

The case was launched after the Syrian Saleh A. went into a Paris police station two years ago and told officers about what he said was a "sleeper cell" ready to strike in Germany.

Saleh A., 30, who had been registered as an asylum seeker in the Duesseldorf region in 2013, was extradited to Germany.

His story led German police to arrest two other men, who have since been cleared.

The trial against Saleh A. continues and is scheduled to run until mid-March.