This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
German authorities have detained three alleged supporters of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group suspected of preparing a bomb attack against non-Muslims.
Prosecutors in Frankfurt said on November 12 that police searched three apartments in the nearby city of Offenbach and detained the men.
The main suspect, a 24-year-old German citizen of Macedonian origin, acquired materials needed to make explosives and searched for firearms online, they said.
His two suspected accomplices are Turkish citizens aged 22 and 21.
“The intervention occurred in time to prevent a concrete threat,” Frankfurt prosecutor Nadja Niesen said.
She said that the suspects appeared to have planned an attack in the Rhine-Main region with the intention of killing “as many people, so-called unbelievers, as possible.”
It wasn’t yet known whether the group had chosen a specific target.
A judge has yet to decide whether to order pretrial detention for the suspects.
