Germany Searching for Syrian After Finding Explosives

The police in east Germany have begun searching for 22-year-old Syrian man Jaber Albakr after they discovered explosives in his apartment in Chemnitz, located near the Czech border. They believe he has planned a large terror attack:

“The search for the suspect is ongoing,” Saxony state police tweeted. “At the moment, however, we do not know where he is and what he is carrying with him. Be careful.”Police detained three people in Chemnitz who they said were known to Albakr, but he remained at large.”Questioning (of the detainees) is continuing. The results are still to come,” said Tom Bernhardt, spokesman for the Saxony state criminal investigation office.

The authorities in Saxony, where Chemnitz is located, conducted the raid after the German intelligence agency gave them tips. Authorities have started to look into Albakr’s past, including possibilities of ties to extremist groups and suspect “an Islamist motive for the planned attack.” From The Wall Street Journal:

Police found “several hundred grams” of highly explosive material in the apartment raided earlier Saturday, a spokesman said, and evacuated 80 residents. Authorities dug holes in the grass outside the apartment complex in which the explosives were detonated.“This appears to be a very dangerous mixture,” the spokesman said of the explosive.

Albakr hid the explosives, causing the police to tear apart the apartment.

No official told the media how long Albakr has been in Germany or if he tried to receive refugee status from the government.

Terrorism has hit Germany hard since Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the country to migrants. As Vijeta Uniyal reported:

The month of July became the deadliest time since the days of Left-wing Terror of the 70s — with 4 deadly terrorist attacks hitting cities across the country within a span of few days. Three of these attacks were ISIS-directed terror operations carried out by Afghan and Syrian refugees living in Germany and one by a German citizen of Iranian origin.In 2016, 118 attacks were reported in refugee housings, 55 of them were arson attacks. Not just German Far-Right, migrants have often carried out attacks on their own housing — often due to gang rivalries, vandalism or general dissatisfaction. The biggest incident took place this summer in Düsseldorf when a group of Muslim migrants set fire to their shelter that housed 7,000 people following a row related to Muslim festival of Ramadan. The hall covering 6,000 square-meter was turned into ashes and causing damages to worth €10 million.

Tags: Angela Merkel, Germany, Terrorism

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