Five men arrested for ‘Islamist plot’ to ‘attack German Christmas market’ | World | News
German police have arrested five people suspected of planning an attack on a Christmas market. The suspects, three Moroccan citizens aged 22, 28 and 30, a 56-year-old Egyptian and a 37-year-old Syrian, were detained on Friday in connection with an alleged Islamist-motivated plot to crash a vehicle into a crowd at a market in the Dingolfing-Landau region of Southern Bavaria, northeast of Munich.
Prosecutors allege that the Egyptian, reported in German media as a local mosque imam, called for the attack with the aim of killing or injuring as many people as possible. Three Moroccans are accused of agreeing to carry it out, while the Syrian is suspected of encouraging them.
All five appeared before a magistrate on Saturday and were taken into custody; Official arrest warrants were issued for four of them.
Authorities have not disclosed the exact targeted market or the planned timing of the attack, but they believe the threat has been thwarted.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann praised the “excellent cooperation between our security services” for preventing a potentially Islamist-motivated incident.
The arrests come amid increased vigilance following past attacks on German Christmas markets, including last December’s fatal car crash in Magdeburg that killed six people and injured hundreds, as well as the 2016 Berlin truck attack that killed 12 people.
Christmas markets remain hugely popular throughout Germany, attracting large crowds and tourists, and security measures have been significantly increased in recent years.
The operation, led by the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office and its Central Office for Countering Extremism and Terrorism (ZET), involved intensive investigations carried out by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The arrests were made by officers of the Lower Bavaria Police Station, with the support of special forces and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office. No foreign intelligence services participated.
The planned vehicle crash was scheduled for the 2025 Christmas season and the Egyptian is facing attempted murder charges for allegedly inciting murder at a local mosque. The fifth suspect (Syrian) remains in preventive police custody under the Police Duties Act, unlike the pre-trial detention of the other four in separate facilities.
Authorities did not release further details due to the ongoing investigation and emphasized that the presumption of innocence applies.
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