Germany Detains 2 Afghans for Plotting Attack on Swedish Parliament

Police vehicles leave the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany (AP)
Police vehicles leave the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany (AP)
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Germany Detains 2 Afghans for Plotting Attack on Swedish Parliament

Police vehicles leave the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany (AP)
Police vehicles leave the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, Germany (AP)

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.



Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
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Biden Is Laying Low at the White House on Election Day

US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden points a finger as he delivers remarks on the administration's continued drawdown efforts in Afghanistan in a speech from the East Room at the White House in Washington US, July 8, 2021. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden has no public appearances on his schedule and his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, won’t be holding her typical daily briefing on Tuesday.

Biden made his final campaign appearance on Saturday when he delivered a speech to laborers on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

He hasn’t taken a question from reporters since gaggling at an event in Baltimore last Tuesday.

Later that same day, Biden created an uproar in remarks to Latino activists when he responded to racist comments at a Trump rally made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.”

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latino group on a Tuesday evening video call, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

The dizzying presidential contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris hurtled toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday as millions of Americans headed to the polls to choose between two sharply different visions for the country.

A race churned by unprecedented events – two assassination attempts against Trump, Biden's surprise withdrawal and Harris' rapid rise – remained neck and neck as Election Day dawned, even after billions of dollars in spending and months of frenetic campaigning.