Teen Suspects Accused of Plotting to Blow Up Small Truck at German Christmas Market

A person walks along Berlin Wall Memorial Bernauer Strasse during snowfall in Berlin, Germany, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
A person walks along Berlin Wall Memorial Bernauer Strasse during snowfall in Berlin, Germany, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
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Teen Suspects Accused of Plotting to Blow Up Small Truck at German Christmas Market

A person walks along Berlin Wall Memorial Bernauer Strasse during snowfall in Berlin, Germany, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
A person walks along Berlin Wall Memorial Bernauer Strasse during snowfall in Berlin, Germany, November 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

A 15-year-old boy and an alleged accomplice are accused of plotting to blow up a small truck at a Christmas market in western Germany in an attack modeled on the methods of ISIS, prosecutors said Thursday.
The teenager was detained Tuesday in Burscheid, a town near Cologne, and a court in Leverkusen on Wednesday ordered him kept in custody pending a possible indictment. Another teenager was arrested in the eastern German state of Brandenburg, The Associated Press reported.
Officials say the 15-year-old wrote in a chat group about attack plans. Prosecutors in Duesseldorf said Thursday that he and the other suspect are accused of agreeing to attack a Christmas market in Leverkusen, a city in the western Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state, at the beginning of December by using fuel to blow up a small truck.
The teenager claimed he had acquired gasoline for the plan, according to a statement from prosecutors. The two suspects allegedly planned to leave Germany together after the attack and join the ISIS-Khorasan Province extremist group, an ISIS offshoot active in and around Afghanistan.
Investigators are evaluating evidence found at the 15-year-old's home but did not find any stocks of fuel, prosecutors said. He is being investigated on suspicion of conspiring to commit murder and preparing a serious act of violence.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said before news of the arrests emerged Wednesday that the threat situation in the country has escalated since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The agency pointed to the risk of a radicalization of lone assailants who use simple means to attack “soft targets,” adding that “the danger is real and higher than it has been for a long time.”



Sources Reveal to Asharq Al-Awsat Details of Iranian Message Sent to Israel

An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a billboard (2-R) depicting (L-R) late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a billboard (2-R) depicting (L-R) late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Sources Reveal to Asharq Al-Awsat Details of Iranian Message Sent to Israel

An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a billboard (2-R) depicting (L-R) late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a billboard (2-R) depicting (L-R) late Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and slain Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani at the Enqelab Square, in Tehran, Iran, 07 October 2024. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Iran has sent a message to Israel through European channels about its possible response to any attack that comes from Israel, diplomatic sources said Friday.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Iranian message sent indirectly to Israel says that Iran would “shrug off a limited Israeli strike.”

Yet Tehran warned that “it would have no choice but to cross the red line” if its oil or nuclear facilities come under attack.

The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation, awaiting Israel's response to an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1. Indications that the response is near rose this week after reports said Tel Aviv was able to reduce its differences with the US administration.

Israeli reports say the response would come during Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to the US on Tuesday.

The Iranian message was sent as Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Turkmenistan for an international meeting.

“Iran does not want war,” he said, but warned that Tehran “would respond if it came under attack.”

He also urged Israel to end its military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon.