Germany arrests Islamist planning anti-Israel terror attack
October 25, 2023
Germany's public prosecutor has launched an investigation into a suspected plan to carry out an Islamist attack, its office in Düsseldorf said on Wednesday.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a 29-year-old man, who prosecutors say allegedly agreed with a chat partner in Syria to carry out an Islamist-motivated attack on a pro-Israel demonstration.
The man was detained on Tuesday after police showed up to his apartment in the western German city of Duisburg.
He was believed to have "made a sufficiently concrete statement to a chat partner in Syria" that he was "ready to commit an Islamist-motivated attack", the prosecutors' office in Düsseldorf said.
Pro-Israel rallies 'possible target'
"A possible target of the attack was a pro-Israeli demonstration," the prosecutors said, without giving further details.
German media outlets Der Spiegel and Bild had both reported that the suspect may have intended to carry out an attack on a pro-Israel demonstration using a truck.
Public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) said that the man had been searching for pro-Israeli events online.
Numerous protests in support of Israel after the Hamas terror attacks on October 7 have taken place in Germany in the weeks since.
The prosecutor's office in Düsseldorf added that the suspect had been sentenced to five years of detention under juvenile law for membership to the so-called "Islamic State" group (IS) in 2017, as well as other offenses.
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ab/lo,wmr (dpa, AP, AFP)