German police averted a possible terrorist attack on a synagogue in Hagen, a town in western Germany, on Wednesday. Four suspects were arrested in connection with the case.
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"We received a very serious and concrete tip that an attack on the synagogue could take place during Yom Kippur," Herbert Reul, interior minister for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said at a press conference Thursday.
"A reference was made to an Islamist-motivated threat," he noted. "In concrete terms: a specific time, place and perpetrator were named," he said.
The minister added that a 16-year-old Syrian was among the four arrested in connection with the threat.
Local police had stepped up their protection of the synagogue that came under threat to ensure worship on the premises during Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, was uninterrupted, officials said.
"A very large police operation is underway here in Hagen," Police Spokesperson Timo Schaefer said. "We had intelligence that there was a threat to a Jewish institution. Acting on this information, we increased the security around this institution."
The operation, which began at 7:30 p.m. (local time) was still ongoing five hours later, with machine-gun bearing officers standing around the building. There was no indication of how long the operation was planned to continue and it was unclear if anyone was inside.
Police later added that the road passing directly in front of the synagogue was closed and that they were escorting passers-by through the closed section on request.
In 2019, a right-wing extremist launched an armed attack on a synagogue in the eastern town of Halle, shooting dead two passers-by. Then, police faced criticism for being slow to attend the scene, though they eventually arrested the attacker, who is now serving a life sentence for the murders.
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