Albania Transfers ISIS Terror Cell Suspect to Germany

A MEMBER of ISIS waves the group’s flag in Raqqa
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A MEMBER of ISIS waves the group’s flag in Raqqa (photo credit: REUTERS)
TT

Albania Transfers ISIS Terror Cell Suspect to Germany

A MEMBER of ISIS waves the group’s flag in Raqqa
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A MEMBER of ISIS waves the group’s flag in Raqqa (photo credit: REUTERS)

Albania has transferred to Germany a Tajik man accused of being part of a cell of the ISIS group that allegedly planned to attack US military facilities in Germany, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The suspect, identified only as Komron B. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on his arrival at Frankfurt airport on Monday, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Four other Tajiks were arrested in Germany in mid-April and their alleged leader was taken into custody in March 2019, The Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors said Komron B. and the other suspects joined ISIS in January 2019 and founded a cell in Germany on the group's instructions, initially intending to travel to Tajikistan and fight that country's government.

They then allegedly changed plans and decided to carry out attacks in Germany, either on US military facilities or on individuals - including an unidentified person living in Germany who they considered critical of Islam.

As part of their efforts to raise money for their plans and for ISIS, one of the cell's members traveled to Albania to carry out a contract killing for $40,000 but the plan failed, prosecutors added.

He and another suspect who had traveled with him then returned to Germany. Komron B. was arrested in Albania on April 29.



Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
TT

Russia: Hypersonic Missile Strike on Ukraine Was a Warning to 'Reckless' West

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a televised address, dedicated to a military conflict in Ukraine and in particular to Russia's launch of a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile attack on a military facility in response to recent Ukrainian long-range strikes with Western weapons, in Moscow, Russia November 21, 2024. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS

The Kremlin said on Friday that a strike on Ukraine using a newly developed hypersonic ballistic missile was designed as a message to the West that Moscow will respond to their "reckless" decisions and actions in support of Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had fired the new missile - the Oreshnik or Hazel Tree - at a Ukrainian military facility.
"The main message is that the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries that produce missiles, supply them to Ukraine and subsequently participate in strikes on Russian territory cannot remain without a reaction from the Russian side," Peskov told reporters.
"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns are not taken into account have been quite clearly outlined,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Peskov said Russia had not been obliged to warn the United States about the strike, but had informed the US 30 minutes before the launch anyway.
President Vladimir Putin remained open to dialogue, Peskov said, but he said the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden "prefers to continue down the path of escalation".
Putin said on Thursday that Russia had fired the new missile after Ukraine, with approval from the Biden administration, struck Russia with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Tuesday and with British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and US-made HIMARS on Thursday.
He said this meant that the Ukraine war had now "acquired elements of a global character".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russia's use of the new missile amounted to "a clear and severe escalation" in the war and called for strong worldwide condemnation.