German police halt Muslim terrorist plot and Turkish cops seize four devout Muslims with 24 suicide belts
European terror attacks halted as German police arrest two known African Islamic extremists and Turkish cops seize four ISIS members with 24 suicide belts
- A 27-year-old Algerian and a 23-year-old Nigerian were arrested in dawn raids
- About 450 police officers searched several properties in the city of Göttingen
- Germany remains on high alert after a series of jihadist attacks on its soil
- In Turkey police seized suicide belts and detained four suspected ISIS members
Police have foiled a plot to launch a
terror attack on European soil after they arrested six suspected
Islamists and seized two dozen suicide belts in raids in both Turkey and
Germany.
Officers in central Germany detained two
known Islamic extremists as part of an investigation into a possible
terror attack plot.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, police today seized
24 suicide belts and detained four suspected Islamic State members, the
Turkish state news agency said.
Police in Germany said the men – a
27-year-old Algerian and a 23-year-old Nigerian, whose names have not
been released – were detained dawn raids this morning in and around
Goettingen in central Germany.
Police said both men live in the city and
have long been part of the Salafist scene there. Salafists are
ultra-conservative Islamists.
About 450 police officers searched twelve
properties as part of the operation, including eleven buildings in the
city of Göttingen and a house in Nordhessen.
Goettingen police chief Uwe Luehrig said
officers took swift action after information about a possible attack
plan came to light.
‘We had, in my assessment, absolutely no other option,’ Lührig said
Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) described the raids as a ‘very important blow to the scene’, Zeit reports.
The minister praised the ‘successful
action’. It shows once again the determination of the security
authorities in the fight against Islamic terrorism in Lower Saxony. One
was ‘well prepared and well prepared’. Nevertheless, the ‘struggle
against this dynamic movement’ will continue to demand a lot from the
authorities.
Last week, Pistorius told the Lower Saxony
parliament that the fight against Islamic terrorism was a top priority
for the state government and the Lower Saxony security authorities.
‘Thanks to the rigorous investigation
carried out by all the parties involved, it was possible to quickly and
consistently intervene and prevent a specific danger,’ he said.
‘I would like to express my sincere thanks
to all those who have prepared this mission and have been directly
involved in the project. ‘
Less than a week ago, German anti-terror police arrested a suspected jihadist amid fears he was plotting an attack.
The Romanian man, 21, was held at
Frankfurt airport in western Germany, before officers seized written
notes and electronic storage devices from his home.
Karlsruhe police said in a statement that
the man was arrested amid fears was planning to travel to his homeland
to prepare an attack.
Just days before, police in the country
arrested a Tunisian man suspected of planning a terror attack after
1,100 officers raided mosques and businesses across the country.
The 36-year-old was detained in Frankfurt in Germany’s Hesse state after anti-terror units targeted 54 properties.
Germany remains on high alert after a series of jihadist attacks on its soil in the last 12 months.
In December an ISIS fanatic killed 12 when he drove a lorry through crowds of revellers enjoying a Christmas market in Berlin.
Months earlier, in July, a teenage Afghan
refugee attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg with an axe and
knife, wounding five before being shot dead.
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