BERLIN, June 2 (UPI) — German police have arrested three Syrians suspected of planning an Islamic State-sponsored attack on the city of Düsseldorf, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
A fourth Syrian has also been charged in France for the plot, which prosecutors said included at least one suicide bombing along with other explosives and firearms.
The arrests were Germany’s latest attempt to stop terror plots in the wake of the Paris and Brussels attacks. U.S. officials have warned the German government, as well as British and Italian authorities of terror cells operating in their countries.
The prosecutors identified Hamza C., 27, Mahood B., 25, and Abd Arahman A. K., 31, and the fourth man, in custody in France, as Saleh A., 25, who told French authorities of the plot in February.
Saleh and Hamza and another one of the men were assigned to do the attack by the Islamic State, then recruited Mahood on a return trip to Europe through the refugee route of Turkey and Greece, prosecutors said.
German news media reported two of the men lived in refugee shelters and at least one had applied for asylum.