Romanian bomb plot suspect held

Florin Lesch was arrested near the western city of Timisoara

Romanian police are holding a man suspected of planning a car bomb attack to protest against Romania's co-operation with US forces in Iraq.

Florin Lesch, a Muslim convert, was stopped on Monday as he drove towards the city of Timisoara with a bomb made from gas canisters, police said.

The intelligence service said it had been tracking him for nearly two years for suspected ties to terror groups.

His arrest coincides with a parliament debate on intelligence service funding.

"There have been two types of suspicions, namely that [Mr Lesch] belonged to several terrorist organisations and that he planned to stage a terror attack," an intelligence service spokesman told Romanian radio.

Romania has more than 800 troops in Iraq.