BERLIN, Germany - German authorities on Monday extended the detention of two suspects over an alleged New Year's plot to attack the cathedral in Cologne, which prompted heightened security at the site.
A police car stands in front of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, western Germany on December 24, 2023. German justice on January 1, 2024 extended the custody of two suspected Islamists arrested in recent days on suspicion of preparing an attack on New Year's Eve against Cologne Cathedral, western Germany. The two suspects, a 25-year-old Tajik arrested before Christmas and his alleged accomplice, arrested on December 31, were placed in "long-term police custody" for an additional fourteen days, Cologne police announced in the evening of January 1. (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP)
One suspect is a 25-year-old from Tajikistan who was arrested before Christmas, and the other a suspected accomplice detained on Sunday.
They can now be held for up to 14 more days for questioning, Cologne police said.
Three other suspects arrested on Sunday have been released.
According to media reports, the suspects allegedly wanted to carry out attacks for Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), an IS offshoot in Afghanistan, in Germany but also in Vienna or Madrid.
Austria had also arrested three people before Christmas as part of the plot inquiry.
Germany has been on high alert in recent weeks over possible Islamist attacks, with the country's domestic intelligence chief warning in late November that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time" because of the Israel-Hamas war.
The deadliest attack by Islamist extremists in Germany was carried out by an IS supporter who rammed a truck into a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12 people.