German police announced the arrest of three suspected Islamists suspected of planning a New Year’s Eve attack on Cologne Cathedral in aid “of a car”, Sunday December 31. These arrests were made in the wake of another arrest that had already taken place for the same reason shortly before Christmas in Germany.
The suspects are part of “Islamist people groups” Who, “at the moment, are more active than usual”, declared the Minister of the Interior of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, at a press conference. A Cologne police official, Frank Wissbaum, spoke of a “network of people from Central Asia”.
It’s a car that was meant to be used “to the planned attack” alleged, according to the authorities, specifying that they did not know how it was to be committed. The underground car park of Cologne Cathedral was inspected using explosive detection dogs, but nothing suspicious was found. The police also increased security measures for New Year’s Eve around the building.
In Austria, three suspects arrested
It was the arrest, near Cologne, just before Christmas, of a Tajik national already suspected of wanting to attack the cathedral which led investigators to arrest other members of the alleged Islamist network and to be able to specify the plan for an attack under discussion. At the same time, the Austrian police also announced the arrest of three other suspects in Vienna.
According to German media, the alleged members of this network are Tajiks acting on behalf of the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K) organization, a regional branch of IS particularly active in Afghanistan. This network planned to attack religious buildings during the end-of-year holiday period, at Christmas or during New Year festivities, in Cologne, Vienna and even Madrid, according to German media.
Germany has been on alert for several weeks in the face of the risks of Islamist attacks, particularly since the start of the war in Israel and Hamas. At the end of 2016, an Islamist truck attack targeting a Christmas market in Berlin left twelve people dead.