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Ethiopian authorities have arrested 15 people over a plot to attack the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) reported Wednesday.

According to the report, explosives, weapons, and documents were seized during the arrest.

“The group took the mission from a foreign terrorist group and was preparing to inflict significant damage on properties and human lives,” the Ethiopian intelligence service said in a statement.

Another cell was planning to attack the UAE diplomatic mission in neighboring Sudan, according to the report.

Earlier this week, an Iranian attack on an Israeli embassy in an east-African nation was reported.

Western intelligence sources familiar with the details of the case say that Iran sent agents to the same country in Africa, whose job it was to gather intelligence on the Israeli embassy, ​​the United States embassy, ​​and the United Arab Emirates - to investigate the possibility of an attack on one of them. Some of those agents were European citizens who also held Iranian citizenship at the same time.

As part of thwarting this operation, some of the agents were arrested - some in the same African country, and some in other countries. According to intelligence sources, this action by Iran was taken as part of an attempt to respond and avenge the assassination of Qassem Soleimani and nuclear scientist Mohsaen Fahrizadeh.