- A man was arrested by German authorities on Sunday on suspicion of attacking Cologne Cathedral, bringing the total number of people detained to five.
- The detained suspects are believed to be part of a large Islamic extremist network spanning Germany and other European countries.
- The alleged plot involved a car loaded with explosives targeted at Cologne Cathedral on New Year's Eve.
German authorities announced on Monday that they had detained another suspect in connection with an alleged threat to attack the world-famous Cologne Cathedral over the holidays, raising the total number of people detained in connection with the alleged plot. There were 5 people.
The latest suspect, a 41-year-old German-Turkish man, was taken into custody on Sunday night in Bochum, a city in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Police detained three people Sunday morning and a man last week. Cologne police chief Johannes Hermans said all the detained suspects belong to a large Islamic extremist network that includes people from all over Germany and other European countries, German news agency dpa reported. be done.
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The remaining four suspects were detained in another city in North Rhine-Westphalia. The person detained last week has been identified as a 30-year-old Tajik man. No details were released about the three people who were taken into custody on Sunday morning.
On December 31, 2023, before the year-end papal mass by Cardinal Woerki at Cologne Cathedral, the area around the cathedral was heavily guarded by police armed with machine guns. German authorities said they had detained three more people in connection with the reported incident. Threat to Cologne Cathedral during the holiday period. (Thomas Banneryer/DPA, via AP)
According to local media, the attack appears to have taken place on New Year's Eve with a car loaded with explosives.
Cologne police said at a press conference on Sunday that the underground car park of the cathedral had been searched and explosives-sniffing dogs had been deployed, but nothing had been found. Entrances and exits to underground parking lots were also inspected for suspicious activity.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul said on Sunday that the arrest was “a success and I would like to thank the investigating authorities.”
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Reul said Islamic extremists have always been active, but are more active than usual now, with Catholic cathedrals being their main target, according to the dpa. “Police are always trying to be a few steps ahead,” he added.
Police had received information that an attack on Cologne Cathedral was planned by armed groups just before Christmas.
The city's world-famous cathedral has been under tight security for a week, with the threat leading to the closure of places of worship to tourists since Christmas Eve.
