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Bremen on high alert after cache of sub-machine guns found following warnings of imminent terror attack

Two suspects were arrested and an unspecified number were detained in a city considered an Islamic extremist stronghold

Tony Paterson
Sunday 01 March 2015 19:01 GMT
Police officers stand guard outside a synagogue in Bremen, Germany. Bremen is on high alert after authorities reported that they had concrete information about a possible terror threat
Police officers stand guard outside a synagogue in Bremen, Germany. Bremen is on high alert after authorities reported that they had concrete information about a possible terror threat (Getty)

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Police in the German port city of Bremen arrested two suspected Islamic extremists and detained several others following warnings of an imminent terrorist attack and the discovery of a large cache of Israeli manufactured sub-machine guns in the city.

Scores of heavily armed police patrolled key points including Bremen’s historic town hall and a synagogue over the last two days after federal intelligence reported the port had been targeted for an imminent attack. “We are not sure how long we will have to combat this situation,” a spokesman for the police anti-terrorism unit said. “Danger levels are high and we have cast a security net over the city.”

Police were said to have raided an Islamic cultural centre, a mosque and dozens of homes in the city. Two suspects were arrested and an unspecified number were detained. Radio Bremen reported that the arrests were made in connection with the discovery of a large cache of Israeli sub-machine guns.

Bremen is considered an Islamic extremist stronghold. The city-state’s intelligence service has some 360 militants under surveillance, according to its Interior Ministry.

In February the authorities in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony cancelled carnival celebrations at short notice because of a terrorist threat.

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