Five men have been arrested in Germany, suspected of involvement in a plot to crash a car into a Christmas market.
Three Moroccans, an Egyptian and a Syrian were arrested on Friday for plotting to carry out an attack on a market in the southern state of Bavaria. Authorities said they suspected an “Islamist motive” behind the plot.
Prosecutors said the Egyptian – a 56-year-old – is suspected of “calling for a vehicle attack with the intention of killing or injuring as many people as possible.” The Moroccans are suspected of having agreed to carry out the attack.
Officials in Germany have been on high alert after previous attacks on Christmas markets, including one in Magdeburg on December 20 last year that left six people dead.
Authorities have not specified when the planned attack was to take place or which market was the exact target, although they believed it was one in the Dingolfing-Landau area, northeast of Munich.
German newspaper Bild reported that the Egyptian was an imam at a mosque in the area.