On Tuesday, two suspected Islamists were arrested in Gera in Thuringia (Germany) on suspicion of terrorism. The two Afghans are accused of planning an attack with firearms near the Swedish parliament.
In the summer of 2023, they reportedly received instructions from an offshoot of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). One of the suspects (30) is accused of joining the Islamic State Khorazan Province (ISPK) as a member in August 2023. The other man (23) is said to have supported the terrorist organization. In concrete terms, both Afghans allegedly collected donations for IS worth 2,000 euros in Germany, and the amount then went to the organization through intermediaries.
Response to Koran burnings
The two are also suspected of having committed murder. The planned attack was intended as a response to the Quran burnings that were taking place in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries at the time. According to authorities, the target should be police and other people. To this end, the Afghans had worked closely with officials from the ISPK, the IS branch in Afghanistan, and Pakistan. They are said to have researched local conditions online and tried several times to obtain weapons – without success.
“According to everything known, the two detainees had already made concrete preparations for a bloody attack,” said German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann. But the rule of law is well positioned. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution is said to have been dealing with the two suspects for a long time.
The two men will be brought before the investigating judge of the German Federal Court on Tuesday and Wednesday. There the arrest warrants, which were issued almost two weeks ago, will be opened. In addition, a decision must be made regarding possible pre-trial detention.
In recent months, there have been repeated arrests in Germany in connection with the ISPK, which is waging an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan. The group was associated, among other things, with possible plans to attack the Cologne Cathedral around New Year’s Eve.
Source: Krone
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