Federal Prosecutor's Office Investigates: Suspected Islamist Apparently Planned Attack on Church
A 24-year-old Iraqi is alleged to have selected a church in Bremen as a target for an attack and to have already obtained a firearm. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, he has now been arrested in Brandenburg.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office has had a suspected Islamist arrested in Brandenburg who is alleged to have planned attacks in Germany against those he considers to be unbelievers. According to a statement from the authority, the first intended target was a church in Bremen.
The office charges the 24-year-old Iraqi with the attempted founding of a terrorist organisation and the preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state. The charges also include a violation of weapons law.
Further Person Still Being Investigated
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the man shares the radical Islamist ideology of the terrorist militia known as Islamic State (IS). For the planned attacks, he is alleged to have already obtained a firearm and to have scouted out the church in Bremen.
He was able to recruit one further individual for his plans, whose identity remains unknown, the statement from Germany's supreme criminal prosecution authority adds. "The recruitment of additional persons failed."
Officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Police arrested the 24-year-old in the Barnim district. An investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe ordered the execution of an arrest warrant issued several days ago, placing him in pre-trial detention.
IS once controlled large territories in Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The threat in Syria has not disappeared entirely, but the number of attacks has declined significantly. In Germany, numerous IS supporters have already faced trial.