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Operation in Holbaek, Denmark on February 6th
Photo: presse-fotos.dk / AP
13 people have been arrested in Denmark in connection with an unsuccessful alleged terrorist attack.
Six people arrested in the course of a major anti-terrorist operation were also taken into custody after an examination date on Thursday, as were seven other suspects.
This was announced by the Danish police and the domestic intelligence service PET at a press conference in Søborg near Copenhagen.
There is a suspicion that a terrorist attack in Denmark or Germany has been planned in the Zealand region, said the chief of police in Central and West Zealand, Lene Sørensen.
The PET said that the preparation for a terrorist attack with a "militant Islamist motive" was assumed.
Materials for building a bomb, several firearms and a flag of the Islamic State terrorist militia were found, said PET operations manager Flemming Drejer.
Seven of the suspects are accused of planning one or more terrorist attacks or otherwise participating in attempted terrorist acts.
Another person was arrested in Germany according to PET information.
On Thursday, a report by DER SPIEGEL announced that three brothers from Syria had been arrested in Germany and Denmark.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior and German security authorities assume that the three had planned a terrorist attack.
The further arrests in Denmark are related to the investigation into the three brothers, one of whom lived in Hesse and one in Saxony-Anhalt.
The Danish authorities have been very cautious about the case so far.
You have to keep the cards close to the body during the investigation, said Drejer.
Nothing could be said about the suspects' nationalities and family ties.
According to SPIEGEL information, the Federal Criminal Police Office had received a reference to a suspicious Internet order last week.
A 33-year-old Syrian living in Holbaek, Denmark, had ordered several kilograms of sulfur and aluminum powder from his brother's address in Dessau.
The substances can be used to make bombs.
Police from the Saxony-Anhalt State Criminal Police Office searched the apartment, but they did not find the chemicals they had ordered.
However, kilos of pyrotechnics, fuses and a self-painted IS flag.
There was initially no trace of the 36-year-old Syrian registered in Dessau.
The police finally arrested the man in Denmark, along with his brother who lived there.
There the investigators found the chemicals originally ordered to Saxony-Anhalt as well as other IS symbols.
Investigators also arrested the third brother in Hesse at the weekend.
The 40-year-old is in custody.
In Germany, the Naumburg Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating the case.
The accusation against the three brothers is: preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state.
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bbr / wow / dpa