European authorities busted a suspected Islamist terror cell in central Europe, arresting an Iraqi ISIS sympathizer who allegedly carried out two unsuccessful attacks on trains in Germany last year. (AP)
European authorities busted a suspected Islamist terror cell in central Europe, arresting an Iraqi ISIS sympathizer who allegedly carried out two unsuccessful attacks on trains in Germany last year.
The 42-year-old man was detained Monday in the Austrian capital of Vienna, where he normally lives. The authorities said he’s accused of “carrying out terrorist attacks on railway lines in Germany in October and December 2018.”
Czech authorities, meanwhile, arrested two individuals who allegedly formed a terror cell with the suspect of the train attacks.
Interior Minister Herbert Kickl told the Austrian parliament Thursday that the two suspects, who are believed to have formed a cell with the Iraqi, were arrested in Prague.
The suspect allegedly tried to commit mass atrocities twice last year. In October, he allegedly interfered with the train tracks in an effort to cause a high-speed derailment.
He left a steel cable stretched over the tracks between electrification masts on the Nuremberg-Munich line.
The attack was unsuccessful and damaged only the driver’s cab, with no reported injuries to the people on the train.
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Investigators found a threatening Arabic note in addition to other documents that suggested the man is linked to ISIS.
The man then allegedly tried to commit another terror attack a couple of months later, yet again unsuccessfully, with police finding damage to overhead wires on a railway line in Berlin’s eastern suburbs as well as another note in Arabic and a flag of the terror group.
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Prosecutors say the Iraqi man is suspected of attempted murder, causing serious damage to property, membership in a terrorist organization and dangerous interference in railway traffic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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