German police foil planned terror attack on Christmas market by arresting five
Five men have been arrested after police foiled a chilling Islamist terror plot to plough a car through a packed Christmas market.
The suspects were held after security services in Germany uncovered deadly plans for a car ramming attack on a festive market crowded with families, young children and tourists.
Four are now behind bars under arrest warrants while the fifth has been locked up in “preventive custody”, the Mirror reports.
The suspects included three Moroccan men aged 22, 28 and 30 and a 37-year-old Syrian man. Prosecutors say a 56-year-old Egyptian national also arrested was the mastermind and ringleader.
He is said to have made a bloodcurdling demand for an attack during a gathering at a mosque in the Dingolfing–Landau area, urging others to strike “in order to kill or injure as many people as possible”.
Authorities are treating this as an attempt to incite murder. The three Moroccan suspects are believed to have been ready to carry out the attack themselves, allegedly prepared to plough a vehicle into a dense Christmas crowd.
The Syrian suspect is accused of reinforcing the group’s determination and urging them to follow through. Investigators have not yet revealed how far the plans had progressed or when the attack was intended to happen.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann hailed the arrests as a major success for the security services. He said: “A potentially Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria has been prevented.”
Investigators say the heinous plot was driven by radical Islamist ideology and would have involved using a vehicle as a weapon – a method repeatedly used in brutal and murderous attacks across Europe.
The exact Christmas market targeted has not been disclosed, with authorities citing security concerns. The five men were arrested on Friday and hauled before a judge on Saturday.
The foiled plot comes amid heightened fear surrounding Christmas markets in Germany which have increasingly become symbolic targets for extremists particularly after the horrific attacks in 2024 in Magdeburg and back in 2016 in the capital Berlin.
Many markets have now been ringed with concrete blocks, armed police and vehicle barriers.
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