Police arrest suspect allegedly planning Berlin attack
May 30, 2017
A teenage asylum-seeker suspected of planning a suicide attack in Berlin has been arrested in the German state of Brandenburg. He reportedly wrote to his mother about his intentions.
Image: Getty Images/S. Steinbach
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A 17-year-old asylum-seeker was arrested in the Uckermark region of the German state of Brandenburg on suspicion of planning a suicide attack in the capital, Berlin, the state's interior minister, Karl-Heinz Schröter, said on Tuesday.
The minister said the teenager had written about a planned attack in a message to his mother. In the email, the teenager said "he had joined the jihad."
"The Syrian nationality and concrete attack plans could not so far be confirmed. The investigations continue," Brandenburg police tweeted.
Brandenburg's interior ministry said the boy, whose name was not released, came to Germany in 2015 as an unaccompanied asylum-seeker. He had been living in a shelter for minor refugees in Uckermark since last year.
Authorities were put on the trail of the suspect by information from other German states, Schröter revealed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel grew up in the Uckermark region, just to the northeast of Berlin, although she was born in Hamburg.
Chronology: Terror plots in Germany
Several times over the past 18 months, police have managed to thwart terror attacks and plots in Germany, which has clearly become a target for Islamic militants in Europe. The following made the headlines:
Image: Reuters/M. Rehle
Leipzig, October 2016
Police in Leipzig arrested 22-year-old Syrian refugee Jaber al-Bakr after a two-day manhunt following the discovery of explosives and other bomb-making equipment at his apartment in Chemnitz. He was suspected of plotting to attack a Berlin airport. Two days later, he hanged himself in his prison cell.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Willnow
Ansbach, July 2016
In July, the "Islamic State" (IS) claimed responsibility for two attacks carried out by asylum seekers. 15 people were injured in a crowded wine bar next to the entrance to a music festival in the Bavarian town of Ansbach after a rejected Syrian asylum seeker detonated an explosive device. The man killed himself in the attack.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/D. Karmann
Würzburg, July 2016
A 17-year-old asylum seeker wielding an axe and a knife went on a rampage on a regional train near Würzburg, seriously injuring four members of a tourist family from Hong Kong and a passer-by. The attacker was shot dead by police. German authorities said the teenager was believed to be a "lone wolf" inspired by the IS, but without being a member of the network.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Hildenbrand
Düsseldorf, May 2016
Three suspected members of the "Islamic State" terror network were arrested in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Baden Württemberg. Authorities say two of the men planned to blow themselves up in downtown Düsseldorf, while the other attacker and a fourth jihadist arrested in France planned to target pedestrians with guns and explosive devices.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Hitij
Essen, April 2016
Police arrested three people over a bomb blast that injured three people in a Sikh temple in Essen. The bomb detonated after a wedding party, blowing out windows and destroying a part of the building's exterior. A 16-year-old suspect turned himself in after police showed footage of the attack from a surveillance camera and special police units arrested another young suspect in his parents' home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Kusch
Hanover, February 2016
German-Moroccan Safia S. is charged with stabbing a police officer at the main train station in the northern city of Hanover. The 16-year-old girl is suspected of having been "motivated by members of the Islamic State group in Syria to commit this act," chief prosecutor Simon Heinrichs said.
Image: Polizei
Berlin, February 2016
In separate raids across the country, police arrested three Algerians suspected of links to the "Islamic State" militant group and of having planned a terrorist attack in Berlin. The Berlin prosecutor's office said prosecutors were aware of a "concrete" plan to target the capital.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Oberursel, April 2015
The Eschborn-Frankfurt City loop bike race was called off after German police discovered it may have been the target of an Islamist terror attack. A 35-year-old German with a Turkish background and his 34-year-old wife were arrested on suspicion of planning the attack. Police found bomb-making materials in their home near the bike route.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Dedert
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German security officials have repeatedly warned that more terrorist attacks are likely in the country. In December, a Tunisian man drove a truck into a Christmas market in the capital, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more.
In April, a German court in the western city of Cologne convicted a 16-year-old Syrian refugee for planning to carry out a terror attack. The regional court sentenced the defendant, whose name wasn't made public in line with privacy laws, to two years in youth prison.
