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TERRORISM

Update: Police raid far-right group in six German states over ‘attack plans’

Police in Germany arrested twelve men Friday in a nationwide probe into an extreme-right group suspected of planning "attacks on politicians, asylum-seekers and people of Muslim faith," prosecutors said Friday.

Update: Police raid far-right group in six German states over 'attack plans'
A sign marks the headquarters of Germany's intelligence agency. Photo: DPA

The arrests of four prime suspects and eight alleged supporters followed raids, some by heavily-armed special units, which hit 13 locations in six German states.

The raids, some by heavily-armed special units, hit 13 locations in six German states.

Under plans by five prime suspects and eight supporters, “a civil-war-like situation was to be brought about via as yet undefined attacks on politicians, asylum seekers and people of Muslim faith,” federal prosecutors said in a statement.

From its founding in September 2019, the group's ultimate aim was “to shake the state and social order in Germany and in the end to overturn it,” investigators believe.

Alongside the five prime suspects, the eight supporters “are believed to have agreed to provide financial support, procure weapons or take part in future attacks,” prosecutors said.

Investigators launched Friday's raids to determine whether the suspects already had weapons or other supplies that could be used in an attack.

So far, no-one has been arrested over the alleged attack plot, prosecutors said.

Far-right in Germany

German authorities have turned increased attention to the country's underground extreme right scene since the murder of conservative local politician Walter Lübcke last June and an October attack on a synagogue in eastern city Halle.

Suspects arrested in both cases have ties to the extreme right.

Interior minister Horst Seehofer announced in December 600 new posts across the federal police and domestic security services to track far-right extremist threats, citing a growing danger.

At the time, federal police said they had identified 48 people on the extreme right as “dangerous” individuals who could carry out an attack.

READ ALSO: 'A new strategy': How Germany is stepping up fight against far-right extremism

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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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