Europe Crackdown On ‘Jihadist Network’

The suspects face a court hearing Friday in Oslo, Norway, and are likely to face charges in Italy of conspiracy to commit worldwide terrorism.

Sixteen terrorist suspects linked to ISIS, were arrested in a sweep across Europe by police on Thursday.

He was also jailed in 2012 for making death threats against Norwegian officials and is reported to be the founder of the militant group Ansar al-Islam.

Authorities in several European nations arrested more than a dozen people Thursday accused of having connections with a terror group that allegedly aims to help ISIS take over Kurdish portions of Iraq, Italian authorities said.

The sting on the cell, which was “affiliated with IS”, was “the most important police operation in Europe in the last twenty years”. The other wanted suspects netted by the recruiting ring before it got busted are believed to be fighting in Iraq or Syria alongside ISIS.

Italy’s national Carabinieri police said the militants planned to strike Norwegian and British diplomats in the Middle East and politicians in Norway, but gave no further information about the potential targets or the time frame for any attacks. Governale said that of the seven arrested in Italy four in Merano, lived in Bolzano and one in a village near Bolzano. In addition, the Italian, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Swiss and British authorities conducted searches of 26 premises and seized several items, including electronic devices and documents, according to Eurojust, an European Union agency dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters.

One of the three arrested in Norway was Iraqi-born Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar, who was identified as the leader of the group, Eurojust said.

The cell, the general charged, “was going to keep sending numerous different jihadists to another country; it was going to do assaults, including suicide bombings, to attempt to free their boss, Mullah Krekar”. The operation involved the police forces of the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Germany and Switzerland.

Four men have been arrested in Britain as part of an global investigation led by Italian authorities into an alleged terrorism recruitment ring.

“There is no evidence to suggest communities are at risk”.

He was sentenced to 18 months in Norway last month f or praising the killing of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January.