Terrorism: Islamists arrested – attack plan in Sweden

In response to the burning of the Koran, two men are said to have planned an attack with firearms on the Swedish parliament. The two Afghans were arrested on Tuesday in the Gera area in Thuringia by officials from the Federal Criminal Police Office, as the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe announced. They are said to have received relevant instructions from an offshoot of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) in the summer of 2023 and made concrete preparations.

Copies of the Koran were repeatedly set on fire or damaged in public in Sweden last year. Those responsible mostly denigrated the religious scripture at anti-Islamic gatherings. The actions also led to angry reactions among Muslims abroad and sometimes violent protests in predominantly Muslim countries. Sweden has had intense diplomatic tensions with several countries. The terror alert level was also raised to the second highest level in August 2023.

At around the same time, one of the two now accused, a 30-year-old, is said to have joined the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISPK), the IS offshoot in Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the Federal Prosecutor General. He is said to have previously collected 2,000 euros for the Islamic State. The now 23-year-old co-accused also supported him. The money is said to have flowed to the terrorist organization through intermediaries and was intended for IS members imprisoned in northern Syria. According to information from the German Press Agency, both men have been living in Germany for some time.

Goal: Kill police officers and other people

In the summer of 2023, the ISPK commissioned the 30-year-old to carry out an attack in Europe in response to the Koran burnings. Together with the 23-year-old, he is said to have scouted out the possible attack site in Stockholm on the Internet. The aim is said to have been to kill police officers and other people with firearms in the area of ​​​​Parliament. There was a close exchange with ISPK officials. Attempts to obtain weapons failed, according to investigators.

“According to everything that is known, the two people arrested had already made concrete preparations for a bloody attack,” said Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP). The case shows that the constitutional state is well positioned to defend itself against terrorist threats. There are sufficient opportunities and means to take action against “the enemies of our freedom”.

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) emphasized: “The danger from Islamist terrorism remains acute. Islamist terrorism therefore continues to be a particular focus of the security authorities.” The security authorities used all police and intelligence resources to identify Islamist terrorist threats early.

The head of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Stephan Kramer, told the dpa about the arrests: “The Islamist threat remains at a high level – including here in Thuringia.” The state Office for the Protection of the Constitution had been involved in the case for a long time and played a key role in its processing. He did not want to say exactly how the two men came into the attention of the authorities.

ISPK is considered a particularly dangerous IS offshoot

The ISPK is a particularly dangerous subgroup of IS, said Thuringia’s top intelligence officer Kramer. “It has the appropriate structures in place around the world to carry such attacks into the West.” The President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, had already emphasized in 2023 that the ISPK particularly stood out among the various offshoots of IS.

The ISPK has been waging an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan for several years. In recent months there have been repeated arrests in connection with the ISPK in Germany. Among other things, the group was associated with possible plans to attack Cologne Cathedral around the turn of the year.

After a detention hearing on Tuesday afternoon, the 30-year-old was taken into custody, as a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor General announced. The test for the other accused is scheduled for Wednesday. Specifically, the investigators accuse the two of not only being members of or supporting a terrorist organization abroad, but also conspiring to commit a crime, in this case murder, as well as violating the Foreign Trade Act.