Germany arrests two suspected IS members over Sweden Parliament attack plot
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The suspects had planned to kill police officers and other people using firearms in the area of the Parliament in Stockholm.
PHOTO: AFP
FRANKFURT - Germany has arrested two suspected Islamic State (IS) members for allegedly planning an attack on the Swedish Parliament in retaliation for Quran burnings in the Scandinavian country, the federal prosecutor's office said on March 19.
Two Afghan nationals identified as Ibrahim MG and Ramin N were detained in the eastern German city of Gera on suspicion of plotting the attack, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
Sweden was rocked by a series of Quran burnings in 2023. The burnings, which are protected by Sweden’s far-reaching freedom of speech laws, sparked outrage across much of the Muslim community and led to violent clashes, including the storming and vandalisation of Sweden’s embassy in Baghdad.
According to German prosecutors, the two suspects had planned to kill police officers and other people using firearms in the area of the Parliament in Stockholm.
They researched the location online and repeatedly tried to obtain weapons, albeit unsuccessfully, the prosecutor’s office said.
The suspects joined IS Khorasan Province, a branch of the militant Islamist group, in 2023 and had collected donations of around €2,000 (S$2,900) for the organisation. The funds were intended to help IS members imprisoned in northern Syria, the statement added.
The suspects will on March 19 and 20 be brought before a German court, which will decide whether to keep them in pre-trial detention.
The Swedish Security Service said it could not comment on the German case, adding that it was in constant contact with its counterparts in Europe. REUTERS
