Why the ISIS cell in Germany deserves more attention

Published April 17, 2020 4:56am ET



I get that coronavirus is absorbing public attention. Still, the arrest of four suspected Islamic State terrorists in Germany this week deserves more attention.

The four Tajik citizens were arrested on Wednesday at various addresses in northwest Germany. But according to German prosecutors, the men weren’t simply inspired ISIS fighters of the kind that typify most of the group’s Western attack plots. Prosecutors said the men had formed an operational ISIS cell that was in continuing contact with ISIS leaders in Syria and elsewhere. Directed to attack targets on German soil, the cell was apparently focused on U.S. Air Force bases in Germany, likely Ramstein Air Force Base, which is not far from where the terrorists were arrested.

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