Turkish prosecutor: police foil New Year’s eve attack

Police seized suicide vests during a raid in the Turkish capital, media say. The state-run Anadolu Agency said M.C.is 28 years old and A.Y.is 40.

Anadolu Agency said the two men were Pakistanis and that their apprehension led to the arrest of a third person, a British citizen, according to The Associated Press.

“They were caught before they had the opportunity to take action”, said the office of the chief prosecutor of Ankara, Turkey’s capital.

Austrian police said Saturday they had stepped up security in Vienna and other cities after receiving a warning of possible attacks during the holiday season. It did not provide details. Both men are reportedly of Turkish origin.

The private NTV news channel, quoting security sources, said the two had “frequently” moved in and out of Syria and had been monitored for the past month.

Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, had been a main pathway for Islamic State recruits and supply lines, including oil smuggled from Syrian fields under the militants’ control.

The official told Reuters the two men, who entered Turkey from Syria, were thought to have been preparing an attack on Kizilay square in the centre of Ankara, where crowds usually gather to celebrate the New Year.

That attack was blamed on IS jihadis, like two other deadly strikes in the country’s Kurdish-dominated southeast earlier in the summer.

The State Department said that terrorist attacks remain likely as ISIS members return to their home countries from Iraq and Syria.

Hurriyet Daily News reports the bombs prepared by this duo were “more effective set-ups than those used in the October 10 Ankara bombings, and aimed to injure more people”.

It has also moved to tighten security along its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria to stem the flow of militants.

In New York City, where one million people pack into Times Square every year, officials said that 6,000 officers, some plainclothes, would be on hand to watch over celebrations. Instead, a five-minute video performance on the Arc de Triomphe will be relayed by big screens on the Champs Elysee avenue just before midnight.

And in a sign of how serious the authorities were taking the terror threat in a city already on high alert after the Paris attacks, Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur said late Wednesday that the annual festivities and fireworks in the heart of the capital had been cancelled.

The two men were arrested on Wednesday in a raid on a suspected ISIL safehouse in the Mamak neighbourhood of the city. No weapons or explosives were found.

“They have barbecues, go riding”, Lahlali said.

A Belgian soldier patrols on Brussels’ Grand Place, December 30, 2015, after two people were arrested in Belgium on Sunday and Monday, both suspected of plotting an attack in Brussels on New Year’s Eve, federal prosecutors said.

In Morocco, officials doubled down on security ahead of New Year’s celebrations as intelligence services played a central role in Europe’s effort to uncover extremist threats.