Belgium/Netherlands/Germany: Cell arrested for planning attack in Belgium

Belgium/Netherlands/Germany: Cell arrested for planning attack in Belgium


Via AFP:

Police on Tuesday detained 10 Islamists in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany suspected of plotting an attack in Belgium, the prosecutor's office said.

The arrests were part of "an inquiry into international jihadist terror," a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office told AFP.

"In total 10 people suspected of preparing an attack in Belgium were arrested in Belgium, Holland and Germany," he said.

The suspects are from Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco and Chechnya, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. The group used the extremist website Ansar Al Mujahideen.

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AP reports the arrests follow arrests in Spain, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Dutch authorities detained three people in Amsterdam. Austria was also involved in these arrests. Germany arrested one person near Aachen.

Seven people were arrested (NL) in Antwerp. Most of them were members of the Caucasus Emirate. Three of the suspect were also members of Sharia4 Belgium. The suspects planned an attack in Belgium through the internet. The plans did not yet reach an advanced stage and they did not yet set a target.

Update: Various news services are reporting different numbers. There are around 10 suspects. Most of them were arrested in Antwerp and are Belgian-Moroccans.

Germany: Right of children to residency not linked to parents

Germany: Right of children to residency not linked to parents

Via Deutsche Welle:

Children of immigrants are to be granted the right to stay in Germany if they fulfil certain criteria, regardless of their parents' status, according to proposals by Germany's federal and regional interior ministers.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and his counterparts from the country’s 16 federal states agreed on proposals Friday that would make it easier for children of immigrants to stay in Germany permanently.

Under the plans, children aged 15 years and older, who have successfully attended school in Germany for at least six years and who speak good German, should be granted the right to stay in the country, even if their parents are not.

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Germany: Muslim leader says Muslims are victims of terror warnings

Germany: Muslim leader says Muslims are victims of terror warnings

Via M&C:

Muslims in Germany are facing increasingly suspicious treatment following this week's warning that Islamist terrorists were planning attacks, the Central Council of Muslims warned on Saturday.

'For years we have been hearing vague terrorist warnings which spread horror and fear,' the Council's head, Aiman Mazyek, told German Press Agency dpa.

'Muslims are doubly scared - because they could become victims of such an attack, and since general suspicions are formed in this way,' Mazyek added.

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Berlin: Terrorists Believed to Be Planning Attack on Reichstag

Berlin: Terrorists Believed to Be Planning Attack on Reichstag



Via Spiegel:

It would be an attack on the very heart of democracy. SPIEGEL has learned that terrorists may have been planning an attack on the Reichstag, the home of the German parliament and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Berlin. Two suspected culprits are already believed to be in Berlin.

According to information obtained by German security authorities, al-Qaida and associated groups are believed to be planning an attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin, the headquarters of Germany's parliament and also an attraction visited by thousands of tourists every day. As part of the attack, terrorists would seek to take hostages and perpetrate a bloodbath using firearms.

The information about the alleged plans came from a jihadist who is currently abroad and has reportedly contacted the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) several times in recent days. The jihadist apparently wants to abandon the group. The information provided by the jihadist informant was apparently the reason behind German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière's decision to hold a press conference on Wednesday warning of an imminent attack in the country.

According to the caller, the terror cell is comprised of six people -- two of whom are believed already to have traveled to Berlin six to eight weeks ago, and are now staying in the city. Four other perpetrators -- a German, a Turk, a North African and a further man the jihadist could not identify -- are currently waiting to travel to Germany. The attacks are purportedly being planned for February or March.

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