Police in western Germany have detained two teenage boys and two teenage girls on suspicion of planning an ISIS-style attack on churches.
Three of the four suspects, all teenagers aged 15 to 16, were arrested in North Rhine-Westphalia and are “strongly suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack and having committed to carrying it out,” according to prosecutors in Dusseldorf.
The fourth suspect, aged 16, was arrested in Stuttgart on “suspicion that he was preparing a serious crime endangering the state,” prosecutors there said.
The Bild newspaper said the group had been planning to attack Christians in churches as well as police officers, adding that they were supporters of ISIS.
They are alleged to have discussed an attack that would have involved knives, Molotov cocktails and potentially guns. The assault was in an early stage of planning, according to German media reports, which suggested the potential targets were in Dusseldorf, Dortmund and Cologne.
