Suspect tried for attempted attack on Baku synagogue

Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

A youth in Azerbaijan is being tried for planning to attack a synagogue in the capital city of Baku, Ynet reports.

According to the indictment, the 18-year-old was inspired by the Islamic State terror organization and had planned to carry out further attacks, Ynet says.

A witness at the hearing said the suspect praised ISIS, claimed to have connections with an ISIS operative, and asked for help securing a knife, an axe, Molotov cocktails, and other improvised weapons.

The suspect told the witness, “I intend to carry out the attack at any cost. I want to die as a martyr,” according to the report.

Three of Azerbaijan’s eight synagogues are in Baku. Estimates of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan vary between 6,000 and 30,000, with the majority living in Baku.

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