Suspected ISIS members from Syria detained in Germany, reportedly plotted Christmas market attack
RT.com
21 Nov, 2017
Six Syrian asylum seekers suspected of being ISIS members and plotting an attack against a “public target” have been detained in a large-scale operation by police in Germany. Local media report that the suspects had targeted a Christmas market.
Some 500 officers took part in a joint raid on eight apartments in the cities of Kassel, Hannover, Essen and Leipzig early on Tuesday morning, police said in a statement.
The operation, led by Hessen Criminal Police and the attorney general’s office in Frankfurt am Main, targeted six Syrian nationals, aged between 20 and 28, who were asylum seekers in Germany since 2014-2015. These people “are suspected of being members of the foreign terrorist group, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).”
They are now being investigated over suspicion of plotting an attack “with weapons or explosives” on “a public target” in Germany, police said. While the official statement did not disclose a specific target, reports emerged in local media suggesting that the Syrians could have been eyeing an attack on a Christmas market in the city of Essen.
The location of the market had been marked on a map found among the confiscated items during the raids, Hessenschau reported. Photos showing the city’s central shopping mall are also said to have been found.
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