A Syrian man suspected of planning a bomb attack on a German airport was on Wednesday found hanged in his cell at a prison in Leipzig, sources told dpa.

    Jaber al-Bakr, 22, was arrested on Monday after a two-day manhunt following the discovery of explosives and other bomb-making equipment at his flat in the nearby city of Chemnitz.

    Investigators said al-Bakr had links to the Islamic State terrorist group. He would have been ready to carry out an attack within days, according to an interview with Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, to be published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Thursday. 

    He was captured and handed over to police by three Syrian refugees who have since been lauded as heroes. However, sources told dpa that during police interrogation al-Bakr had accused the refugees of having known in advance about the planned attack. 

    The truth of the accusation was not clear, and prosecutors in Karlsruhe leading the investigation refused to confirm the information or say whether the refugees were being treated as suspects or witnesses.

Source: QNA