12-year-old suspected of nail bomb attempt in Germany
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Dec 17, 2016
German prosecutors revealed Friday that a local 12-year-old boy with potential links to the Islamic State group attempted to detonate explosive devices at a Christmas market and town hall last month in the western town of Ludwigshafen. Inside they found a glass jar packed with firecrackers with nails taped to it, Focus reported. A 12-year-old Germany-born boy with Iraqi parents is alleged to have tried to set off a nail bomb at the Christmas market on November 26, and aga.
He then left another explosive device near the Ludwigshafen town hall on December 5, but an "informant" called the police and it was defused by specialists.
Focus Magazine, which first reported the case, said the boy is believed to have been radicalized and possibly received instructions from a member of the Islamic State terrorist organization.
German prosecutors are investigating a 12-year-old boy who allegedly plotted a nail bomb attack at a Christmas market in the southern city of Ludwigshafen, officials said Friday.
Stephan Meyer, parliamentary spokesman on security issues for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc, confirmed the details of the report. Police said the mixture would have burned but not exploded.
The boy, a young German-Iraqi who was born in Ludwigshafen, is below the age of criminal responsibility.
City mayor Eva Lohse said he "is now staying at a secure place and therefore presents no public threat".
"This phenomenon is on the rise, it's a risky situation", he said on news channel NTV.
But it was shaken by several assaults claimed by ISIS and carried out by asylum-seekers this year - an axe rampage on a train that injured five, and a suicide bombing that wounded 15 people.
