Germany
GermanyReuters

German police arrested a 12-year-old Iraqi boy for attempting to plant explosives in the Christmas market near the Ludwigshafen municipality.

The police believe ISIS is behind the attack.

The boy, who is also a German citizen, attempted to carry out the attack on November 26. He placed a bag of explosives in the centrally located Christmas market, which was packed with people.

However, the bag did not explode, preventing what would have been a large-scale attack on civilians.

A few days later, on December 5, the youth again attempted to carry out an attack, this time placing the bag and its explosive content near a bush by the local municipality. A passerby reported the suspicious bag to the police, and police sappers promptly arrived to neutralize the explosives.

Sources say the boy told investigators that the explosives contained "pyrotechnical material made from fireworks and detonators. A lab test proved the material was flammable but not explosive, and did not pose a danger to nearby buildings. One of the interrogators said the boy told German media that he 'had recently become a Muslim extremist, and learned how to carry out attacks from ISIS activists.' He also said he intends to join ISIS in Syria next summer."

Senior Ludwigshafen police official Hubert Struber said despite the severity of the boy's crime and the danger to civilians, the youth's age, which is less than Germany's age of culpability, prevents the police from indicting him or otherwise begin legal proceedings.

Meanwhile, the boy has been taken into custody by child welfare, and the police are attempting to locate the ISIS members who aided him.

Struber also refused to comment on the claims the boy was taught by ISIS.

"We are investigating his motivations," Struber said.

German intelligence information shows 820 German citizens left Germany in the past months to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and a third of them have returned to Germany. 140 have been killed in battles, and 420 others are still in Syria and Iraq.

This is not the first time Germany has had to deal with ISIS terrorists. In October, German police arrested a Syrian man for plotting a bomb attack for ISIS.

Germany's Interior Ministry has expressed concern over the hundreds of terrorists living within the country's borders. However, their Defense Minister has said jobs and schools will end the threat of ISIS.