Authorities in Munich have arrested a 27-year-old Syrian man suspected of plotting an attack on German soldiers during their lunch break. The suspect is believed to have ties to radical Islamism and aimed to kill as many soldiers as possible in a public area in Upper Franconia, near Nuremberg.
According to Munich’s public prosecutor’s office, the man bought two machetes, each about 16 inches long, earlier this month. His intent was to carry out the attack in broad daylight, targeting soldiers and spreading fear among the general population.
This arrest marks another incident in a series of thwarted attack plots in Germany, a nation that has been grappling with both domestic and foreign terrorism issues for the last decade. Details surrounding the suspect are still being uncovered; he was arrested on Thursday and appeared in court the following day, although his identity remains confidential due to German privacy laws.
The plot comes shortly after a stabbing attack at a festival in Solingen on August 23, where a man also linked to Islamist extremism killed three and injured eight. The attacker was a 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker who had avoided being deported to Bulgaria and was arrested soon after. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for that attack, though evidence supporting this link has not surfaced.
In response to the rise of far-right sentiments, including significant electoral gains by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged aggressive deportation measures for individuals not allowed to stay in Germany. He stated, “We have massively expanded the possibilities to carry out such deportations.”
The government is also reintroducing temporary border controls with its nine neighboring countries, an initiative announced earlier this week to last six months. This measure aims to curb uncontrolled cross-border movement within the Schengen zone, which allows free travel across 27 European countries.
Several neighboring countries have expressed concern over these controls, which are already in effect at the Austrian border and have expanded to Belgium, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser claims these actions will help mitigate “immediate threats of Islamist terrorism and serious crime,” even as critics argue that the government is capitulating to a vocal minority.
Marcus Engler from the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research remarked that the government’s actions appear to signal to both the German populace and potential migrants that they are “no longer wanted here.”
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press