Terror suspects sought in Geneva thought to have Islamic State links

“Authorities in Geneva yesterday received from (federal authorities) information about suspicious individuals likely to be in Geneva or the Geneva area”, said the statement from the canton’s security department.

At least four people, believed to have been plotting a specific attack in the city, are being sought, according to one official.

Heavily-armed police carrying submachine guns stood guard outside diplomatic missions in Geneva on Thursday.

As city police raised their security alert level, Swiss state prosecutors opened investigations into a suspected criminal plot and suspected violations of a ban into groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida. A van with Belgian plates and two men entered Switzerland from France via the Jura mountains on Tuesday and went back to France after a few hours, Swiss television said.

Police were working with global and national authorities to locate suspects they believed to be in the Geneva region, officials said.

It shows the men raising their forefingers in the air in the manner of Isis combatants. A Central Intelligence Agency spokesman in Washington declined to comment.

“Sensitive sites have been alerted”, a Swiss official said.

Senior U.S. and Russian diplomats are set to hold talks on Syria in Geneva on Friday, but the United Nations said the location would be kept secret. However they managed to escape and are thought to have left Swiss territory. The Swiss Attorney General’s office is now conducting 33 criminal proceedings linked to Islamist militancy, and opened almost a dozen new investigations in October and November, a spokeswoman said.