Thwarted Christmas attacks

PARIS — German police have arrested two men suspected of planning an imminent terror attack, after Australia and Indonesia reported having also thwarted plans for lethal Christmas assaults.

Following are the details:

INDONESIA

On Wednesday (Dec 21), Indonesian police said they had foiled plans by an Islamic State-linked group for a Christmas-time suicide bombing after killing three suspected militants and discovering a cache of bombs.

The three were killed in a firefight at a house in South Tangerang about 25 kilometres (15 miles) west of the capital Jakarta. Police said the alleged militants had opened fire at officers when they tried to arrest them.

The targeted location for an attack was near a private hospital west of Jakarta, police added.

The plot was disclosed by a group member who was arrested earlier and tipped off police about the other three and their whereabouts, police said.

Following the raids, national police chief Tito Karnavian said security would be boosted at churches, entertainment venues and public gatherings during the Christmas and New Year celebrations across the sprawling archipelago.

AUSTRALIA

On Friday Australian police said a “significant” IS-inspired terror plot for Christmas Day targeting central Melbourne has been foiled after a series of arrests in raids across the city.

Victoria police chief commissioner Graham Ashton alleged those detained planned to use explosives, knives and guns to attack busy locations including Melbourne’s Flinders Street train station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral.

“We believe that there was an intention to conduct what we call a multi-mode attack, possibly on Christmas Day,” he said.

The targets of the suspected attack are all in the same area in the heart of the city, and only a short distance from the Melbourne Cricket Ground where up to 100,000 people are expected to attend the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan on Monday.

Of the seven arrested on Friday morning, five remain in custody. All had been under surveillance for weeks.

Ashton said four of them were Australian-born, of Lebanese background, with the fifth an Egyptian-born Australian citizen, all in their 20s.

GERMANY

On Friday, German authorities said two brothers have been arrested on suspicion of planning to attack one of Germany’s biggest shopping centres, four days after a jihadist killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market.

Police said the two arrested men, aged 28 and 31, were originally from Kosovo. Authorities were now trying to establish how advanced the plot was and whether other people were involved.

Acting on a tip-off from the intelligence services, police were deployed to the shopping complex and a nearby Christmas market in the western city of Oberhausen late Thursday, they said.

The mall that was targeted has around 250 shops that are usually packed in the run-up to Christmas.

The arrests came as the Italian authorities said police had shot dead the Tunisian suspect in the Berlin truck attack, Anis Amri, after four days on the run, ending a massive Europe-wide manhunt.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Christmas market assault - their deadliest yet carried out on German soil. AFP