Police in have foiled yet another terrorist attack plot against a Christmas market, arresting a migrant from Iraq earlier this week. Police in the German city of Augsburg arrested the 37-year-old Iraqi migrant on Wednesday, December 4, after Bavarian authorities were given a tip by a foreign intelligence agency that had monitored the suspect’s online activities.
The Iraqi had allegedly posted online about his support for the terrorist Islamic State group and had posted photographs of the Christmas Market in Augsburg. He had also communicated his desire to drive a vehicle through the market, copying the 2016 Berlin Christmas market attack that saw a dozen killed by a rejected Tunisian asylum seeker.The possible foiled pilot is just the latest this year and follows the arrest of an Islamist teenager in Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein region last month. The 17-year-old Turkish-German in this case was also allegedly plotting an attack on the Christmas market in Elmshorn. He looked to drive a truck through the market, killing as many innocent people as possible.
Last year, two teenagers were also arrested for plotting to attack a Christmas Market in Cologne, stating their intentions online and also expressing support for the Islamic State. The youngest, just 15, was already on a terrorist watchlist prior to his arrest.
Western Europe has seen a wave of terrorist attacks in 2024, with at least 21 terror attacks and attempted attacks reported back in September. Among the attacks that were successfully carried out was a mass stabbing by a Syrian asylum seeker at a diversity festival in Solingen that led to the deaths of three people. The Syrian also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
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