German authorities have arrested five men suspected of planning an attack on a Christmas market, the Munich public prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
What do we know so far?
The foiled plot was targeting a Christmas market in the area of Dingolfing in the southern German state of Bavaria, German authorities said. The exact name of the market that was the target of the foiled plot has not yet been specified by authorities.
The Munich public’s prosector’s office said that four of the men had been issued formal arrest warrants, with the other individual in preventative custody.
German authorities are suspecting that the attack plans were based on an Islamist motive and that it would be carried out by car. The suspects include a 56-year-old Egyptian, a 37-year-old Syrian and three Moroccans aged 22, 28 and 30.
The Landshut Christmas market in Lower Bavaria is not far from the Dingolfing areaImage: Manfred Segerer/IMAGO
German newspaper Bild was the first outlet to report on the arrests. The Egyptian suspect had called for the Christmas market attack at a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau area.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild that thanks to the “excellent cooperation of our security authorities” multiple suspects could be arrested in little time, preventing a possible Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria.
Security risks ever present amid German Christmas market season
Security at German Christmas markets during the festive winter season is a major priority for German authorities, particularly after failures to thwart attacks in recent years.
Germany’s Christmas markets open amid security concerns
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Last year, a man drove an SUV into a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on December 20, killing six people and leaving over 300 others injured. The 50-year-old Saudi perpetrator, Talib A., had previously exhibited erratic behavior and threatened violence, drawing allegations of tip-off and intelligence failures.
In December 2016, a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia who pledged allegiance to the “Islamic State” drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing a dozen people and injuring 56 others. German intelligence agencies admitted failures concerning the exchange of information in the months prior to that attack.
Edited by: Rana Taha
