Arrests at the border

Alert! Car attack on Christmas market planned

Five men were arrested in Lower Bavaria for allegedly planning an attack on a Christmas market. (symbolic image)(Bild: stock.adobe.com)

Shock in the German state of Bavaria! On Friday evening, several men were arrested on the German-Austrian border for allegedly planning a terrorist attack on a Christmas market. As the Munich Public Prosecutor General's Office revealed, the suspects apparently wanted to use a car for their attack.

Among the suspects are three Moroccans (22, 28 and 30), an Egyptian (56) and a Syrian (37). According to the "Bild" newspaper, a foreign secret service is said to have provided the decisive clue. According to this, the men were planning an attack on a Christmas market in the Dingolfing area (Lower Bavaria).

Attack at the German-Austrian border crossing 
As the "Mittelbayerische Zeitung" reported on Saturday evening, the raid took place on Friday at the German-Austrian border crossing at Suben (on the German side) south of Passau.

Call in a mosque?
The suspects' plan was "to carry out an attack on a Christmas market using a vehicle", emphasized the spokeswoman for the Munich public prosecutor's office. According to the current state of the investigation, the Egyptian is said to have called on the Moroccans to carry out the allegedly Islamist-motivated attack in a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau area. It is still unclear when the attack should have taken place or how concrete the plans were.

Arrest warrant issued for four suspects 
It is still unclear what role the Syrian is alleged to have played. According to information from "Bild", he is in preventive custody. The remaining four suspects have already been brought before a magistrate, who has issued an arrest warrant. According to reports, there is no connection to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.

"Outstanding cooperation"
"Thanks to the outstanding cooperation of our security authorities, several suspects were arrested in a very short time and a potentially Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria was prevented," emphasized Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). He added: "The background to this must now be clarified by our specialist departments together with the Munich Public Prosecutor General's Office."

The security authorities in Germany have been paying particular attention to Christmas markets for some time - also because of previous attacks. On 19 December 2016, for example, a radicalized Islamist drove a truck into the crowd at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, killing 13 people, one of whom died years later.

Last year, a driver deliberately drove through the Christmas market in Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt), killing six people and injuring more than 300 others. The trial of the confessed perpetrator from Saudi Arabia, who had been living in Germany since 2006, is currently underway at Magdeburg District Court.