Former soldier wanted over base attack

The Osnabruck barracks was hit by three grenades

A former British soldier is wanted for questioning in Germany over terrorist charges and the attempted murder of an IRA informer.

Germany wants Michael Dickson, 38, extradited to face charges in connection with a grenade attack on the British Army barracks in Osnabruck in 1996.

Northumbria Police also want to talk to Mr Dickson over the attempted murder of former IRA informer Martin McGartland on Tyneside in 1999.

Mr Dickson, from Greenock in Scotland, is currently in custody in the Czech Republic for alleged cigarette smuggling.

Martin McGartland: Shot by three armed men

The former Royal Engineer is wanted for questioning over an attack with three grenades on the Quebec Barracks in Osnabruck.

A Czech Republic government spokesman said the country's courts would decide on the extradition request within weeks.

Mr Dickson was a suspect after the shooting of former IRA man Martin McGartland in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside in 1999.

A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said: "We would hope to speak to him when he is available so that we can compare his DNA to samples found at the scene of the crime."

Mr McGartland was badly wounded when he was shot a number of times by three armed and masked men at his home in June 1999.

He was shot with a CZ 9mm semi-automatic, self-loading pistol.

Agent Carol

At the time police said suspects had Scottish and Irish accents.

Mr McGartland moved to Tyneside in 1991 after the IRA discovered he was a special branch agent.

In his book, 50 Dead Men Walking, he told how he infiltrated the IRA at the age of 17 and had operated under the code-name Agent Carol between 1988 and 1991.

In the IRA attack on the base in Germany, three mortars were fired from the back of a Ford Transit van parked just outside the gates.

One of the mortars slammed into the ground beside a fuel storage facility.

Buildings, vehicles including cars and armoured trucks were caught in the blast, although no-one was hurt.