Germany arrests 2 Syrian extremists, 1 accused of war crimes

BERLIN — German authorities arrest two Syrians suspected of being members of the extremist Nusra Front, one of whom is alleged to have been involved in the murder of dozens of civilians.

The federal prosecutor’s office said Thursday that 35-year-old Abdalfatah H.A. is suspected of war crimes over the killing of 36 Syrian government employees by his unit in March 2013. The statement says he carried out “so-called Shariah death sentences.”

A spokeswoman for the prosecutors’ office, Frauke Koehler, declined to confirm German media reports that the man came to Germany as an asylum-seeker.

The other suspect, 26-year-old Abdulrahman A.A., belonged to the same combat unit as Abdalfatah H.A. and both participated in an armed battle against Syrian government troops, including taking over a big arms depot near Mahin in November 2013.

Prosecutors say the Nusra Front unit the men belonged to also included Abd Arahman A. K., a Syrian in his early 30s who was arrested in Germany last June on suspicion of being part of a plot to carry out a bomb attack in Duesseldorf.

— AP

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