German Authorities Arrest 6 ISIS Suspects Following A Sweep That Uncovered Would-Be Fatal Christmas Attack

German Police on Tuesday arrested six Syrian refugees with links to the Daesh and suspected of preparing a terror attack in the country. The suspects who are aged between 20 and 28 were arrested in a massive security sweep on residences in the cities of Kassel, Essen, Hanover and Leipzig.
The six detained Syrians all arrived in Germany as asylum seekers between December 2014 and September 2015, at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis. The sweeps were fueled by a recent police arrest of 19-year-old Syrian suspected of conducting an attack as well as a report that indicates that Germany is home to at least 10,300 radical Islamists with close to 10% being capable of conducting violent attacks.
According to a statement released by the German police, the six had weapons and explosive with which they planned to use on a public target in Germany. While the plan for an attack was still in the initial stages, material recovered indicated that had planned an attack on the Christmas market in Essen”, a city in western Germany.
Such an attack would have revived painful memories of last December’s truck rampage in Berlin when a failed Tunisian asylum seeker smashed into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12 people.