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TERRORISM

Berlin doctor ‘recruited mentally-ill man for Isis’

German police on Thursday arrested a doctor suspected of having recruited a man of limited mental capacity to fight for the Islamic State organisation in Iraq.

Berlin doctor 'recruited mentally-ill man for Isis'
A brochure about Muslim fundamentalist extremism published by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Photo: DPA

Investigators accused the 33-year-old German doctor of brainwashing the 24-year-old man with jihadist videos and later paying for his one-way ticket to Syria and Iraq.

The younger man, also a German national, subsequently blew himself up in northern Iraqi city Baiji, killing at least 12 Iraqi soldiers, said prosecutors in a statement.

“Findings by investigators showed that the suicide bomber was mentally restricted and easily influenced and had therefore been assigned a carer,” prosecutors said.

“Whether the attacker was deliberately singled out by the accused because of his mental deficiency is the subject of further investigations,” they added.

The Berlin arrest came during raids of four apartments in the German capital and the southwestern city of Mannheim, where police seized an optical device for a firearm, documents, mobile phones and electronic data storage devices.

Thousands of Europeans have travelled to Syria to fight for the IS group, and concern is growing over the threat these jihadists pose on home soil when they return home.

SEE ALSO: None of 'Isis arrests' for plotting terror attack

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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