Germany detained on Tuesday two Afghan citizens accused of planning an attack on the Swedish parliament in response to the burning of copies of the Quran in Stockholm last summer.
The federal prosecutor’s office said two Afghan nationals identified as Ibrahim MG and Ramin N. were detained in the eastern German city of Gera on suspicion of plotting the attack.
The office said the two suspects had received orders from the ISIS Khorasan Province, adding that they “researched the local conditions around the possible crime scene on the internet.”
According to prosecutors, the “concrete” plans, which involved both accused co-conspirators, included a firearms attack on police officers and others “in the vicinity of the Swedish parliament in Stockholm.”
The two detainees repeatedly tried to obtain weapons, albeit unsuccessfully, the prosecutor's office said.
The German prosecution accused one of the two men of belonging to ISIS Khorasan Province branch, while it said that the second man supports the terrorist organization.
The two had raised 2,000 euros in donations for ISIS to help a member jailed in northern Syria, it added.
German security intelligence consider the ISIS Khorasan group as posing a significant threat to its national security and to other European countries as well.
Sweden was rocked by a series of Quran burnings last year. The burnings, which are protected by Sweden's far-reaching freedom of speech laws, sparked outrage across much of the Muslim community and led to violent clashes.
Britain and US had issued a travel advice to their citizens when traveling to Sweden about the risk of terrorist attacks. Also, the Swedish embassy in Baghdad had been stormed and vandalized in response to the Quran burnings.
In October, a gunman killed two Swedish soccer fans before a match in Brussels.
Swedish authorities had raised the terror alert to its second-highest level in August.
Most European countries have also raised the level of terrorist threats since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
In Germany, the police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
The three suspects are believed to be linked to a Tajik, who allegedly wanted to carry out attacks for ISIS Khorasan.
The “alleged means of attack” is a car, had said police in the western city. Security measures have been stepped up around the site for several days.
