World News

Germany arrests suspected attacker

Oct 26, 2023

Colognec [Germany], October 26: The Dusseldorf Public Prosecutor's Office has formally arrested a man suspected of planning an Islamist attack, a spokesman for the authorities told dpa on Wednesday. The 29-year-old is alleged to have agreed to commit an Islamist-motivated attack on a pro-Israeli demonstration with a chat partner in Syria. He is to be brought before a magistrate in the western German city of Duisburg because he is alleged to have agreed to commit murder. If convicted, he could face 3 to 15 years in prison. The man, who has a criminal record, was temporarily detained by special forces in his flat on Tuesday. According to the state interior minister Herbert Reul of North Rhine Westphalia, the man had researched possible targets "in relation to pro-Israeli demonstrations." According to security authorities, there is evidence that the 29-year-old wanted to drive a truck into an "Israeli event." The fact that it was probably a foreign intelligence service that first pointed to the terrorist intentions was commented on by Reul as follows: "International cooperation works." In 2017, the man was sentenced by the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court to five years' imprisonment for membership of the Islamic State terrorist group and had served his full sentence.