German authorities announced Saturday that five men have been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack against a Christmas market in Bavaria, Deutsche Welle reported.
The Munich public prosecutor’s office confirmed the arrests, noting that four of the suspects have been issued formal arrest warrants, while the fifth remains in preventative custody.
The foiled plot targeted a Christmas market in the Dingolfing area of southern Bavaria. Authorities have not yet specified the exact market that was targeted. Investigators suspect the attack was Islamist-motivated and intended to be carried out by car.
The suspects include a 56-year-old Egyptian, a 37-year-old Syrian, and three Moroccan nationals aged 22, 28, and 30, according to Deutsche Welle. German newspaper Bild first reported the arrests, revealing that the Egyptian suspect had called for such an attack at a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau area.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told Bild that thanks to the “excellent cooperation of our security authorities” multiple suspects were arrested quickly, preventing a possible Islamist-motivated attack in Bavaria.
Security at German Christmas markets has become a top priority for authorities, particularly after deadly failures in recent years. On December 20 last year, a man drove an SUV into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six and injuring more than 300.
Weeks before that attack, German authorities arrested three suspected Islamist extremists accused of planning to attack Christmas markets in Frankfurt or Mannheim.
In December 2016, a Tunisian failed asylum seeker pledging allegiance to the Islamic State drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, murdering 12 and injuring 56.