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Updated: Oct 12, 2016 07:17 IST

Three Syrians who overwhelmed a fugitive wanted in an alleged Islamic extremist bomb plot and handed him over to police are being hailed as heroes in Germany, helping temper anti-migrant sentiment fuelled by fears of such attacks.

Jaber Albakr, 22, was tied up and held by three fellow Syrians who alerted police in the eastern city of Leipzig. He was arrested early Monday — nearly two days after he evaded officers during a raid on an apartment about 80 kilometres away where police found explosives.

On Tuesday, Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung thanked the Syrians, whom authorities are not identifying out of concern they could become targets for retribution.

“This is an immense success against terrorism and shows that a large majority of the foreigners and asylum seekers who live here want nothing to with this form of radical Islamism,” Burkhard said.

Albakr, who had been granted asylum in Germany, was among 890,000 migrants who arrived in the country last year, many of them from Syria.

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Worries over the difficulties of integrating large numbers of Muslim newcomers and over the possibility of radicalized migrants carrying out attacks have helped boost anti-foreigner sentiment in recent months.

In July, several people were wounded in two attacks carried out by asylum seekers and claimed by the Islamic State group; both assailants were killed.

Andre Hahn, a prominent lawmaker with the opposition Left Party, told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio that “the courageous people” who captured Albakr should be granted asylum “as soon as possible” in recognition of their courage.

“That would be very important for all honest refugees who need help and who in their absolute majority have nothing to do with the self-styled Islamic State or any terrorist activities,” Hahn said.

The Syrians’ asylum status wasn’t immediately clear.

Albakr met the fellow Syrians who eventually would turn him in after he fled the police raid in the city of Chemnitz and posted on an internet network for Syrian refugees that he was at Leipzig’s main rail station and needed a place to stay, German newspaper Bild reported.

One of the Syrians, identified only as Mohamed A., was quoted as telling the newspaper that he and a friend picked Albakr up and took him back to another friend’s apartment, only later seeing police notices on Facebook about the bomb plot suspect.

As Albakr slept on Sunday evening, they discussed with other Syrians on Facebook whether their guest was the fugitive, and then tied him up with electric cords.

Read | German spy chief says Syrian terror suspect targeted Berlin airports

“He offered us 1,000 euros ($1,115) and $200 if we let him go. He had that in a backpack together with a knife,” the man was quoted as saying. “I am so grateful to Germany for taking us in. We could not allow him to do something to Germans.”

Bild columnist Franz Josef Wagner opened his second-page column Tuesday with the words “Dear Heroes.”

“I don’t know how good your German is and whether you know our Constitution (women and men are equal, freedom of religion etc.),” he wrote. “But beyond language and tradition, you know what good and bad are. That makes you friends.”

Even the nationalist, anti-migration Alternative for Germany party, which has polled strongly in five state elections this year after strongly criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcoming approach last year to refugees, appeared relatively muted in its response to the Chemnitz case.

Investigators think Albakr was considering Berlin’s airports as potential targets. Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the domestic intelligence agency, told ZDF television it received information in early September that the Islamic State group was planning “attacks on infrastructure, stations and airports, in western Europe, particularly Germany.”

Following the “abstract” tip, Maassen said German authorities “generated a lot of information ourselves, and exchanged a lot of information with partners, until we came to this name and this address.”

Maassen said in separate comments to ARD television that the suspect had bought chemicals online. On Friday, officials observed Albakr at a shop buying hot glue, which he said is “used by people who want to carry out suicide attacks.”

He and other officials were tight-lipped with details of Albakr’s suspected contacts with IS, saying that is part of their ongoing investigation.

“From intelligence information, there are good reasons to say that he had relations with IS,” Maassen said.