Germany has arrested two suspected Islamic State (ISIS) members for allegedly planning an attack on the Swedish parliament in retaliation for Quran burnings in the Scandinavian country, the federal prosecutor's office said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Two Afghan nationals identified as Ibrahim MG and Ramin N were detained in the eastern German city of Gera on suspicion of plotting the attack, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
German prosecutors say the two suspects had planned to kill police officers and other people using firearms in the area of the parliament in Stockholm.
Ibrahim MG and Ramin N researched the location online and repeatedly tried to obtain weapons, albeit unsuccessfully, the prosecutor's office said, according to Reuters.
The suspects joined Khorasan Province, a branch of ISIS, in 2023 and had collected donations of around 2,000 euros for the organization. The funds were intended to help ISIS members imprisoned in northern Syria, the statement added.
The suspects will be brought on Tuesday and Wednesday before a German court.
Sweden was rocked by a series of public burnings of the Quran late last year, which sparked outrage across the Middle East.
In response to the Quran burnings, protesters stormed Sweden’s Embassy in Baghdad and carried out a firebomb attack on the Swedish diplomatic mission in Beirut.
Sweden subsequently raised its terror alert to the second-highest level, saying the country had become a priority target for terrorist groups.
Germany itself has been on high alert in recent years, following a series of terrorist attacks. The worst such attack took place in December of 2016, when Tunisian terrorist Anis Amri killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin.
In late October, police in the western German city of Essen arrested a man who plotted to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.
In December, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in western Germany on suspicion of planning a possible attack on a Christmas market.
Weeks later, German police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year's Eve.