Germany arrests 3 suspected Syrian terrorists, foils alleged Islamic State plot

Anthony Fiola, The Washington Post

2 June, 2016

Image: A first responder holds his face in his hands after a terrorist attack on the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels in March 2016.  (THIERRY ROGE/AFP/Getty Images)

BERLIN — German authorities on Thursday arrested three Syrian men on suspicion of planning an Islamic State attack on the city of Düsseldorf, potentially preventing a deadly plot involving suicide bombers, firearms and explosives that appeared highly reminiscent of recent assaults on Brussels and Paris.

A fourth man, who prosecutors said had informed French officials about the alleged plot, was being held in France.

In a statement, Germany’s chief prosecutor’s office said there were no immediate indications that the men had started taking concrete steps to carry out the plot. But the authorities moved in on Thursday — arresting the men in three different German states — after details of the alleged plot were provided by the suspect in France, who first approached authorities in Paris in February.

The plot, officials said, was supposed to involve two suicide bombers. Separately, other assailants “were supposed to kill as many bystanders as possible with guns and other explosive devices,” prosecutors said.

Two of the men were suspected of being active members of the Islamic State, while a third was believed to have at least supported the group. Investigators also suspect that one of the two Islamic State adherents had links to the radical Islamist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is known as the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda.

The men, officials said, had arrived in Germany traveling along the same route used by hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers. They first entered Turkey, then Greece, before making their way to Germany in the first half of last year, according to the officials.

Revelations that the suspects had entered the country along with a record wave of more than 1 million asylum seekers appeared sure to fuel further debate here about the security threat presented by the massive pool of poorly screened migrants.

A series of coordinated terrorist attacks killed 130 people in Paris in November. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the massacre, in which at least eight assailants armed with explosives and automatic weapons gunned down people at random at several locations in the French capital.

The Islamic State also claimed a series of attacks in Belgium in March targeting the Brussels airport and a metro station. Three suicide bombings killed 32 people and injured more than 300 as authorities closed in on suspects wanted in the Paris attacks.

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© 2016, The Washington Post

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