German officials demand answers after suspect strangles self

A hearse leaves the prison in Leipzig, eastern Germany, early Thursday morning, Oct. 13, 2016. A 22-year-old Syrian man arrested in Germany for a suspected Islamic extremist bomb plot killed himself Wednesday in a prison cell in Leipzig, Saxony’s state Justice Ministry said late Wednesday. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

BERLIN (AP) — Saxony’s justice minister says that a 22-year-old Syrian man suspected of planning an Islamic extremist bombing attack strangled himself by tying his shirt to the bars of his jail cell.

Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow said Jaber Albakr was found by a guard at 7:45 p.m. hanging from the bars. The guard tried to revive him but was unable and a doctor declared him dead a half hour later.

Prison head Rolf Jacob authorities who assessed him when he entered the prison had noted there was a suicide risk but did not consider it acute. He says the suspect was checked on every 15 minutes and given pants without a belt as a precaution.

Gemkow says “this should not have happened even though we did everything we could to prevent it.”