German authorities have arrested a Libyan man with suspected ties to ISIS who was allegedly planning an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin.
The man was detained on Saturday in Bernau, a town just outside of Berlin.
The prosecutor’s office said the suspect was a Libyan national whom they identified only as Omar A.
“He intended to carry out a high-profile attack with firearms on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin,” the statement said. In his planning, the statement added, “the accused exchanged information with a member of ISIS in a messenger chat.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Berlin confirmed to dpa that there had been a plan to attack the diplomatic mission. Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor thanked the German security authorities “for ensuring the security of our embassy," dpa reported.
News of the case first came from the Bild newspaper, which reported that a heavily armed elite police unit stormed the suspect’s apartment in Bernau and that police also raided an apartment in the western German town of Sankt Augustin in connection with the case.
According to Bild, the suspect is a 28-year-old who arrived in Germany in November 2022 and applied for asylum. Dpa reported that his asylum request was rejected.
