Beirut - A German judicial team has met with Jihad Hamad, a prime suspect in the failed 2006 attempt to bomb trains in Germany, in the presence of a Lebanese judge, judicial sources said Friday.

"Jihad Hamad was questioned on Thursday night by a Lebanese prosecutor in the presence of a German judicial team," the lawyer of Hamad, Fawaz Zakriyeh told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Zakariyeh, who was present at the questioning along with his client, told dpa the questions focused on "links between Hamad and Youssed al-Hajj Deeb," who is currently held in Germany.

"My client made it clear to the Lebanese and the German judicial team that Hajj Deeb was the man who masterminded the attack of the trains," Zakariyeh said.

He said that Deeb, since his July 2006 arrest by German authorities, has denied being the mastermind behind the attack.

"My client is still angry about his harsh sentence which was given to him by the Lebanese court regarding the foiled attack," the lawyer added.

Hamad was sentenced earlier this year to 12 years in prison. Hamad was arrested in Lebanon following the failed attempt in July 2006.

German authorities believe that the two Lebanese students who tried but failed to detonate self-made bombs in two German trains may have done so to qualify themselves for al-Qaida missions in Iraq, according to Lebanese judicial sources.

Hajj Deeb and Hamad had made crude bombs from gas canisters filled with petrol and diesel and deposited them on two German regional trains hidden in large suitcases on July 31. They both boarded trains at Cologne's main train station and got off after depositing the bombs.

The devices, fitted with alarm clocks for timers, failed to detonate. If they had, they would have created a fireball up to 15 meters wide and hurled deadly shrapnel up to 100 meters, explosive experts said. It could have been the worst terrorist attack on German soil in the country's history. (dpa)