Several suspected Islamist terrorists have been arrested in Germany and Austria over alleged planned attacks during the Christmas holiday season including at the Cologne Cathedral, which was searched by police with explosive-sniffing dogs on Saturday evening.
According to a report from Bild, Germany’s largest-circulation newspaper, police have arrested several suspected terrorists said to be from Tajikstan and who allegedly planned to carry out terror attacks in Europe on Christmas or New Year’s Eve. The suspected Islamist terrorists are believed to have connections to the “Islamic State in Khorasan Province” an offshoot of ISIS primarily located in Afghanistan.
One of the chief targets of the seemingly foiled terror attack was the 13th-century Cologne Cathedral, Germany’s most-visited tourist attraction. On Saturday evening, police searched the historic site with bomb-detecting dogs to ensure that no explosives had already been hidden in the cathedral.
23 December 2023, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne: The still image from a video shows a police sniffer dog on duty at the cathedral. Visitors to religious services at Cologne Cathedral and tourists will have to be prepared for increased security standards over the next few days. Photo: Sascha Thelen/dpa (Photo by Sascha Thelen/picture alliance via Getty Images)
A Cologne Police spokesman said: “Due to a warning of danger for Cologne Cathedral, the Cologne police will take special protective measures from this evening. The police will not comment on details of the available findings due to ongoing investigations by the police state security service.”
Even despite the arrests, security measures will be stepped up over the next week, with all visitors to the cathedral set to be screened before being permitted to enter the building.
Cologne Police Chief Michael Esser said: “Even if the reference refers to New Year’s Eve, we will take everything into account this evening to ensure the safety of cathedral visitors on Christmas Eve. In coordination with the security officer of the cathedral chapter, the cathedral is searched with sniffer dogs after the evening mass and then locked. Tomorrow all visitors will be screened before entering the church.”
In addition to standing as one of Germany’s top historical landmarks, the Cologne Cathedral was also the epicentre of the infamous sex attacks on New Year’s Eve in 2015, which was brought to international attention by reporting from Breitbart London. Over a thousand women in Cologne claimed to have been sexually assaulted, with the majority describing their attackers as appearing to be of North African or foreign descent.
On top of the alleged plot in Cologne, other targets for the suspected Islamist terrorists included locations in Madrid, Spain and Vienna, Austria where several of the arrests on Saturday were made.
“Due to a current threat assessment by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the continued increased terror alert level, there is generally an increased risk in Austria during the Christmas holidays,” a Vienna Police spokesman said.
The arrests come after multiple terror attacks across Europe in the wake of the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel, with Islamist jihadis killing multiple people in Belgium and France. Earlier this month, the European Union warned that because of the war between Israel and Hamas, there was a “huge risk” of Islamist terror attacks in Europe during the Christmas holiday season.
Other Tajik members of the “Islamic State in Khorasan Province” terror group were arrested in Germany and the Netherlands over the Summer over an alleged plot to carry out a major terror attack. The seven-member group had reportedly smuggled into Germany after posing as refugees from Ukraine with fake documents.