Norway says no specific threats against its citizens
Xinhua, November 13, 2015 Adjust font size:
Norway said on Thursday there were no specific threats against its citizens after 17 alleged Islamic radicals were targeted in a joint European anti-terror operation, news agency NTB reported.
"If there had been specific, acute threats against Norwegian citizens, we would have been made aware of it. So in our opinion that hasn't been the case," Signe Aalling, a prosecutor of Norway's police intelligence agency PST, was quoted as saying.
Earlier in the day, 16 Iraqi Kurds and one person from Kosovo were targeted in the joint operation in Italy, Britain, Norway, Finland and other countries after Italy had issued arrest warrants for them on suspicion of international terrorism.
The group was allegedly founded by Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar, who is a controversial Iraqi Kurd cleric living in Norway as a refugee since 1991.
The group has been said to focus on recruiting militants in Italy and other European countries and helping them join Islamic radical forces in Syria and Iraq, according to Italian police.
The group may have plotted terrorist activities in Norway and attacks against Norwegian diplomats both in the country and across foreign offices in the Middle East, Italian investigators said.
A total of 13 people were arrested in Italy, Norway and Britain. In addition, the Italian, German, Finnish, Norwegian, Swiss and British authorities conducted searches of 26 premises and seized several items, including electronic devices and documents, according to Eurojust, an EU agency dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters.
Three people were arrested in Norway, including Mullah Krekar. He has been arrested several times in Norway for inciting hatred and violence since he was granted political asylum in the Nordic country after fleeing Iraq in 1991.
He was sentenced last month to 18 months in jail in Norway for publicly encouraging violent acts and praising the attack in which French cartoonists of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were killed in Paris.
The planned kidnap of foreign diplomats was designed to leverage Mullah Krekar's release from custody while he was jailed, according to Italian officials. Endit