German soldier, posing as refugee, arrested in attack plot

A German soldier who pretended to be a Syrian refugee has been arrested on suspicion he planned a gun attack with racist motives, prosecutors said Thursday.

The 28-year-old suspect who was not identified was thought to have a “xenophobic background,” they said — while Die Welt daily reported he may have plotted to pin the blame for an attack on foreigners.

The strange case involved a joint police operation across Germany, France and Austria with raids on 16 locations, prosecutors in Frankfurt said in a statement.

They arrested the soldier — a lieutenant usually stationed on a Franco-German military base near Strasbourg — in the southern German city of Hammelburg on Wednesday.

On the same day they also arrested a second German man, a 24-year-old student and alleged co-conspirator in possession of objects that breach weapons and explosives laws, they said.

— AFP