Neu-Ulm, Germany - German police searched 16 premises Wednesday associated with a radical Islamist group, though they said the inquiry did not allege terrorism, but the lesser charge of forming a criminal group.

The raids, led by Bavarian police, focussed on a community of Muslims in the southern city of Neu-Ulm which has repeatedly been raided in recent years during anti-terrorism inquiries.

The Bavarian criminal investigation department said police visited homes, clubrooms and a publishing office. Nine persons were suspected of joining from September 2005 onwards in a criminal association.

Its purpose included to encourage radicalism among ethnic minority Muslims and among German converts to Islam, the police said.

Other locations raided were in Neu-Ulm's twin town of Ulm, Sindelfingen, Bonn, Berlin and Leipzig.

The Ulm area has repeatedly been associated by the German media will alleged plots.

Last year, German police arrested a trio of men in a country village, Oberschledorn, charging that they were plotting a terrorist attack. Two were German converts to Islam, one of them a man from Ulm. (dpa)