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Iraqi is said to have planned attack on Christmas market (symbolic image)

Photo: u+h.eggenberger / Zoonar / IMAGO

A 20-year-old Iraqi man who is said to have planned a terrorist attack during the Christmas season was deported to his country of origin on Friday evening. This was announced by the Ministry of the Interior in Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday. The deportation is associated with an indefinite ban on entry and residence, it said.

The 20-year-old was taken into custody in Helmstedt on November 21. According to the State Criminal Police Office of Lower Saxony, the police had indications that the man had planned a serious act of violence. He is said to have planned to attack visitors to a Christmas market. The investigators had also learned that he was in contact with a suspected IS operative. The man lived in Saxony-Anhalt and worked in Lower Saxony.

"Thanks to the high level of vigilance of the security authorities, attack plans were thwarted. The deportation that took place is the result of the very well-functioning cooperation of several authorities," said Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (CDU).

Lower Saxony's Minister of the Interior: "The threat situation remains tense"

Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) said it had been possible to avert a serious threat. "We will remain vigilant in the future and will not let up in our efforts to protect citizens. Because the truth is that the general threat situation remains tense."

Only on Thursday, the Federal Criminal Police Office in Berlin arrested three men who are said to belong to the terrorist organization Hamas. According to the investigators, the men were ordered to store weapons in Berlin to carry out attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.

Only a few days before the arrest of the now deported 20-year-old, the police had also arrested two teenagers who are said to have planned an attack on a Christmas market in Leverkusen and on a synagogue. Since 7 October, the police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution have feared that the Hamas attack on Israel could lead radicalised individuals or groups to carry out attacks in Germany.

has/dpa