BERLIN - Six people were detained in connection with what police and prosecutors allege was a plan to carry out an attack on Berlin's half-marathon Sunday, German authorities said.

"There were isolated indications that those arrested, aged between 18 and 21 years, were participating in the preparation of a crime in connection with this event," prosecutors and police wrote in a joint statement.

Berlin police tweeted that six people were detained in co-operation with the city's prosecutor's office.

The German daily Die Welt first reported that police foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

The main suspect allegedly knew Anis Amri, a Tunisian who killed 12 people and injured dozens more when he drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in December 2016, Die Welt reported.

One of the apartments Berlin police raided before the race started Sunday was also searched after the Christmas market attack, the newspaper said.

Special police forces detained four men in connection with the race plot, the paper said — different from the six that police reported.

Die Welt reported that the main suspect, who was not identified, had prepared two knives to use in the attack. It also wrote that in one of the searched apartments, dogs trained to find explosives barked when they were taken into the dwelling's basement.

The local daily Tagesspiegel reported that the main suspect had been under observation for two weeks around the clock. After a foreign intelligence service tipped off German authorities that he was planning to attack the half-marathon, police raided apartments and two vehicles in the Charlottenburg and Neukoelln districts of the city.</s>The German daily Die Welt is reporting that police have foiled a knife attack on a half-marathon in Berlin.

The paper said special police forces detained four men in connection with Sunday's sporting event.

They said the main suspect was planning to killed participants and spectators with knives.

German news agency dpa reported that police confirmed arrests in connection with the half-marathon, but gave no further details.

Die Welt said the four suspects were linked to Anis Amri, a Tunisian man with Islamist militant ties who killed 12 people in an attack in Berlin in December 2016 when he hijacked a truck and drove it into a crowded marketplace.

The paper reported that the suspect, who was not identified, had prepared extra-sharpened knives to use in the attack.

Amri's attack in Berlin in 2016 had prompted German lawmakers to call for tougher security measures. No major Islamist militant attack has been carried out in Germany since.

Earlier on Sunday, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the government would do everything possible to protect citizens, but added: "We have again experienced that ... absolute security is unfortunately not possible."

Seehofer was speaking in Muenster, where a man drove a camper van into a group of people sitting outside a restaurant yesterday, killing two of them before shooting himself dead.

Authorities have said the attacker was a 48-year-old German citizen with mental health problems and that there was no indication of an Islamist militant connection.</s>Berlin police say they've found no new evidence to support suspicions that six people detained over concerns about a possible attack on the city's half-marathon planned to hit the race.

Police spokesman Michael Maasz said Monday that authorities have yet to decide whether to have the six brought before a judge to be held in custody, but since there are "no new results" it appears they likely won't be.

The six were detained Sunday, the day of the race, and daily Die Welt reported police foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

Police said later Sunday they had received vague indications of a possible attack plot and had taken action because of a generally high threat level, but had no "concrete indications" an attack was planned.</s>Share this article with Google Plus

Police in Germany have stopped a suspected knife attack targeting runners and spectators at Berlin’s half marathon.

Four men have reportedly been detained by officers at the run on Sunday.

The main suspect planned to launch a knife attack on people at the event, according to German newspaper Die Welt.

He is said to have ties with Anis Amri, the terrorist who hijacked a truck and drove it into a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016, killing 12 people.

He had allegedly prepared extra-sharpened knives to use in the attack, Die Welt reported.

News agency DPA reported that police have confirmed arrests connected to the half marathon.

No further details were immediately given.</s>Berlin police say they've found no new evidence to support suspicions that six people detained over concerns about a possible attack on the city's half-marathon planned to hit the race.

Police spokesman Michael Maasz said Monday that authorities have yet to decide whether to have the six brought before a judge to be held in custody, but since there are "no new results" it appears they likely won't be.

The six were detained Sunday, the day of the race, and daily Die Welt reported police foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

Police said later Sunday they had received vague indications of a possible attack plot and had taken action because of a generally high threat level, but had no "concrete indications" an attack was planned.</s>Berlin police say they’ve found no new evidence to support suspicions that six people detained over concerns about a possible attack on the city’s half-marathon planned to hit the race.

Police spokesman Michael Maasz said Monday that authorities have yet to decide whether to have the six brought before a judge to be held in custody, but since there are “no new results” it appears they likely won’t be.

The six were detained Sunday, the day of the race, and daily Die Welt reported police foiled a plot to attack race spectators and participants with knives.

Police said later Sunday they had received vague indications of a possible attack plot and had taken action because of a generally high threat level, but had no “concrete indications” an attack was planned.</s>BERLIN: Berlin authorities said they arrested six people Sunday over an alleged plot to carry out a "violent crime" at the German capital's half marathon which attracted 36,000 runners and big crowds of onlookers.

Prosecutors and police said in a statement they had received "isolated indications that those arrested (Sunday) between the ages of 18 and 21 may have been involved in planning a violent crime in connection with this event".

The security authorities said that on that basis and after a deadly van rampage on Saturday in the western German city of Muenster, they decided to swoop on the suspects.

"Due to the still ongoing investigation, no further information can be provided at this time," they added.

The statement spoke only of "several" arrests but a tweet by the police mentioned six arrests carried out by special forces.

Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller thanked security forces for preventing an "impending attack with their vigilance and police work".

A police spokesman told AFP later that they had confiscated "data storage devices, mobile phones, two vehicles and a small knife" during the raids.

He confirmed that the suspects arrested "might have planned something during the half marathon" but "we don't know what exactly".

The half marathon went off early Sunday without incident amid warm spring sunshine.

Berlin's top security official, Andreas Geisel, had said that the city of 3.5 million people would need to review its precautions for the half marathon following the Muenster attack in which two people were killed.

Some 630 police officers were deployed to guard the race.

Authorities believe the 48-year-old German perpetrator of the Muenster attack, who shot himself dead, had mental health problems and was not politically motivated.

A report by daily newspaper Die Welt which police did not confirm said that the main suspect in the Berlin probe planned to attack race participants and onlookers with two "specially sharpened knives".

It added that the suspect had links to Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, who carried out a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in the German capital in December 2016.

In Germany's worst jihadist attack to date, Amri hijacked a truck and murdered its Polish driver before killing another 11 people and wounding dozens more by ploughing the heavy vehicle through the crowd.

He was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later while on the run.

A source close to the investigation told AFP that the Welt reports that a knife attack was being planned "went too far".

The daily Tagesspiegel reported earlier that a "foreign intelligence service" had warned Berlin police of the possibility of an attack on the half marathon. And it confirmed the suspicion of a link between one of the suspects and Amri.

Police declined to comment on the report.

Like other European nations, Germany remains a target for Islamist militant groups, in particular, because of its involvement in the coalition fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, and its deployment in Afghanistan since 2001.

A court last month sentenced a 26-year-old Palestinian asylum seeker to life in prison for killing one and wounding six others with a knife in a Hamburg supermarket out of a "jihadist" motive last July.

Germany's security services estimate there are around 10,000 Islamist radicals in Germany, some 1,600 of whom are suspected of being potentially violent.

Political opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel, including the far-right AfD party, have charged that the security situation has worsened with the arrival of more than one million migrants and refugees since 2015, many from African and Middle Eastern conflict hotspots. — AFP</s>Organisers are on red alert amid fears the iconic event could be next in line after a dramatic intervention in Germany. German authorities arrested four men yesterday and suspected one of the suspects was aiming to stab runners and spectators. Police say the planned assault at the Berlin half-marathon had links to the assault on the city’s Christmas market in 2016, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more.

It is claimed the suspect was found with two knifes on him. All four men have been linked to Tunisian Islamic extremist Anis Amri, who ploughed a truck into Berlin’s popular festive shopping bazaar after being denied asylum. Two Brits were among those injured in the 2016 atrocity. Security for this year’s London Marathon is now set to be the tightest in history.

It comes days after covert anti-terror squads were rolled out across London with scores of undercover officers expected to be keeping an eagle eye on the run in just under two weeks. Last year more than 40,000 professional and amateur runners took to the streets of the capital and that figure is expected to be topped this year. In 2013 three people were killed at the Boston Marathon while 16 lost limbs when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated bombs near the finish line.</s>BERLIN police have reportedly arrested six people on Sunday over an alleged plot to carry out a “violent crime” at the German capital’s half marathon which attracted 36,000 runners.

Prosecutors and police said in a statement they had received “isolated indications that those arrested between the ages of 18 and 21 may have been involved in planning a violent crime in connection with this event”.

The security authorities said that on that basis and after a deadly van rampage on Saturday in the western German city of Muenster, they decided to mount the raids against the suspects.

“Due to the still ongoing investigation, no further information can be provided at this time,” they said.

The statement spoke only of “several” arrests and searches of flats and two vehicles in Berlin.

But a tweet by the police mentioned six arrests carried out by special forces. The half marathon went off early on Sunday without incident, drawing large crowds amid warm summer sunshine.

Berlin’s top security official, Andreas Geisel, had said earlier that the capital of 3.5 million people would need to review its precautions for the half marathon following the Muenster attack in which two people were killed.

Some 630 police officers were deployed to guard the race.

MORE: VAN PLOUGHS INTO CROWDS IN GERMANY

Authorities believe the 48-year-old German perpetrator, who shot himself after the Muenster attack, had mental health problems and was not politically motivated.

A report by daily newspaper Die Welt, which police did not confirm said that the main suspect in the Berlin probe had links to Tunisian asylum-seeker Anis Amri, who carried out a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in the German capital in December 2016.

In Germany’s worst jihadist attack to date, Amri hijacked a truck and murdered its Polish driver before killing another 11 people and wounding dozens more by ploughing the heavy vehicle through the crowd.

He was shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later while on the run.</s>BERLIN: German police have detained four men, one of whom they suspected of planning knife attacks at Sunday's Berlin half-marathon, the newspaper Die Welt reported in its online edition.

Die Welt said the four suspects were linked to Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist ties, who hijacked a truck in December 2016, killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.
Police in Germany release six men suspected of plotting a terror attack at yesterday's Berlin Half Marathon, one of who was linked to Anis Amri, after failing to find evidence to substantiate their suspicions.