Police apprehended two teen girls and a boy in western Germany on suspicion of plotting an Islamist assault, prosecutors said Friday.
The trio, ages 15 to 16, are “strongly suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack and having committed to carrying it out,” prosecutors said in a statement.
All three are from Duesseldorf and “committed to carrying out a crime — murder and manslaughter,” according to the prosecution.
Investigators declined to disclose any information on the suspected scheme, citing the ongoing investigation.
However, the Bild tabloid said that the youths were allegedly plotting Molotov cocktails and knife assaults in the name of the Islamic State.
According to the article, their targets are likely to be Christians and police officers. The accused are apparently considering obtaining firearms.
Germany has been on high alert for Islamist terrorism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, with the country’s domestic intelligence director warning that the possibility of such attacks is “real and higher than it has been for a long time”.
In January, police arrested three persons in connection with an alleged attack on Cologne’s cathedral on New Year’s Eve.
Islamist extremists have carried out a number of deadly assaults in Germany in recent years, the bloodiest being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, which killed 12 people.
More recently, two Afghans affiliated to IS were arrested in Germany in March on suspicion of plotting an attack on Sweden’s parliament in retaliation for Koran burnings.
In October, German authorities charged two Syrian brothers with preparing an IS-inspired attack on a church in Sweden.
According to a report from the BfV federal domestic intelligence service, the number of Islamist extremists in Germany decreased from 28,290 in 2021 to 27,480 in 2022.
However, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has stated that Islamist extremism “remains dangerous”.