Security forces have launched a nationwide anti-terror operation in Germany. Police in the states of Saxony, Bavaria, Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin confirmed that properties have been searched.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Stratenschulte
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German anti-terror police carried out a series of pre-dawn raids in the eastern city of Leipzig Wednesday.
Regional news portal "Tag24" reported that the operation targeted suspected members of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS), as well as other extremist factions.
A police spokesperson in Leipzig said the raids were part of a nationwide anti-terror operation. Similar raids were carried out in the federal states of Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and Bavaria.
According to German daily "Bild," authorities searched three apartments belonging to asylum seekers in the Leipzig districts of Volkmarsdorf, Mockau and Connewitz.
The Federal Prosecutions office in Karlsruhe said that among those targeted were two suspected IS members, as well as another suspect accused of providing support for the jihadist group.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the raids showed that country's security forces "are prepared to strike" against the threat of international terrorism.
The move comes less than a week after Leipzig police arrested a suspected IS militant near the city. The 29-year-old Syrian national had allegedly pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization in 2013 and had fought in Syria for several years.
Prosecutors said the three suspects are thought to be connected with the Syrian national arrested last week, as well with another Syrian arrested in June 2016 on suspicion of planning a bomb attack in Düsseldorf.
dm/rt (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
Germany's biggest Islamist trials
The attempted bomb attack at the Bonn train station in 2012 led to one of the highest-profile terror trials in Germany. Here's a look at some other major trials involving Islamist extremists in Germany.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Marks
Failed Bonn bomb
The blue bag left on the platform at Bonn's central station in 2012 contained explosives that did not go off, but a city-wide manhunt unfolded. Marco G. was eventually arrested and charged with planting the bomb. Three others are charged with plotting to assassinate a politician from the far-right PRO-NRW party. Their group allegedly drew inspration from an Islamist movement in Uzbekistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Frankfurt airport bus attack
In March 2011, Arid Uka shot dead two US servicemen waiting for a bus at Frankfurt airport prior to deployment in Afghanistan. "This is indeed the first Islamic-motivated terror strike to have happened in Germany," the judge said, adding Uka had sought revenge for military operations in Afghanistan. Uka, born in Kosovo, acted alone and was sentenced to life in prison in February 2012.
Image: AP
The Sauerland Cell
The "Sauerland Cell" was a German cell of the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), a terrorist group on the Pakistani-Afghan border. The four German and Turkish men had planned large-scale bomb attacks against American targets in Germany from their base in the western region of the Sauerland. Arrested in September 2007, they were sentenced in March 2010 for up to 12 years.
Image: AP
Sharia Police
Sven Lau, a Salafist Muslim, was the man behind a well-known Islamist publicity stunt. In 2014, Lau led several men around the city of Wuppertal in orange security vests labeled "Sharia police." Acting as state authorities, they warned people visiting local clubs and bars to adhere to Sharia, or Islamic law. He is currently on trial for backing a terror group fighting in Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk/M. Becker
Big mouth
Nils D., a Salafist from Dinslaken, joined the "Islamic State" in Syria in October 2013. He tracked down the group's deserters - armed with explosives and guns. He returned to Germany a year later, and boastful statements about his time in Syria eventually got him arrested. He confessed the names of other German Islamic extremists and was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail.
Image: DW/M. Gopalakrishnan
"Biggest mistake of my life"
On the final day of Harry S.'s July 2016 trial, he said "going to Syria was the biggest mistake of my life." The Bremen-born Muslim convert spent three months with "Islamic State" in Syria in 2015. He wanted out after civilians were murdered for a short recruitment film he helped make. He was sentenced to three years in jail for being part of a foreign terrorist organization.
