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TERRORISM

Swede among terrorist suspects held in Uganda

A Swedish national is among a group of three people arrested on Uganda's eastern border on suspicion of having ties to a terrorist group, according to a local media report.

The woman was among three people arrested last Wednesday aboard a bus from Nairobi in Kenya to Kamapal in Uganda on suspicion of links to the Somali terrorist group Islamist Al-Shabaab, according to a report in the Ugandan Monitor newspaper.

According to the newspaper’s sources the police had received information that the suspects were on their way to Kampala to deploy bombs. Al-Shabaab has previously threatened terror attacks in Uganda and Burundi as the countries have refused to withdraw their forces from Somalia.

One of the three arrested, a woman, had two passports, one of which was Swedish.

The three suspects were arrested and taken to Kampala to be interrogated further.

Teo Zetterman at the Foreign Ministry’s press service said that the ministry is aware of the information in the media.

“Staff from the Embassy in Kampala have spoken to a police officer, but have not been able to get this information confirmed. The embassy will seek new contact with the police tomorrow (Sunday),” said Teo Zetterman.

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TERRORISM

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

Police in Milan said on Thursday they had arrested a 37-year-old Algerian man in the subway, later discovering he was wanted for alleged ties to Islamic State.

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

When stopped by police officers for a routine check, the man became “particularly aggressive”, said police in Milan, who added the arrest took place “in recent days”.

He was “repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attempting to grab from his backpack an object that turned out to be a knife with a blade more than 12cm (nearly five inches) long,” they said in a statement.

The man was later found to be wanted by authorities in Algeria, suspected since 2015 of belonging to “Islamic State militias and employed in the Syrian-Iraqi theatre of war,” police said.

Police said the suspect was unknown to Italian authorities.

The man is currently in Milan’s San Vittore prison and awaiting extradition, they added.

Jihadist group IS proclaimed a “caliphate” in 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, launching a reign of terror that continues with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes.

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