Suspect in custody after terror alarm at Cologne Cathedral: What is currently known

Possible attack plans
Detention in North Rhine-Westphalia
Arrests in Vienna
This is the current situation around Cologne Cathedral
This is the threat situation in Germany

Possible attack plans - Suspect in custody after terror alarm at Cologne Cathedral: What is currently known

Following the terror warning for Cologne Cathedral and a church in Vienna, there is particular caution in view of New Year's Eve. "There is currently an increased threat situation in the area of Islamist terrorism. The federal and state security authorities are therefore acting with the utmost vigilance," said a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin.

There were searches, arrests and one person was taken into custody. The tightened security measures for Cologne Cathedral are to remain in place until the New Year. What is known so far about the terror alert:

Possible attack plans

According to the news agency DPA, security authorities had received information before Christmas about possible plans by an Islamist group to attack Cologne Cathedral and a church in Vienna. According to the Cologne police, the information related to New Year's Eve. On Saturday evening, the police had ordered special security precautions for the cathedral, including an extensive ban on visitors, citing a "threat indication". Explosive detection dogs were deployed, but no explosives were found.

Detention in North Rhine-Westphalia

On Christmas Eve, police searched an apartment in the town of Wesel on the Lower Rhine with special units and initially took five men into custody. While four of them were released, the police took a 30-year-old Tajik into custody "to avert danger". According to the police on Tuesday, there was evidence against him that was relevant to state security.

On Christmas Day, the Oberhausen district court confirmed the detention order until January 7 at the request of the Cologne police. The police will not provide any information on the background to the detention until further notice due to ongoing investigations.

The police are "exhausting all legal possibilities to protect the people, the cathedral and the upcoming New Year's Eve celebrations", explained CID chief Michael Esser. The police are investigating at full speed.

Possible attack plans: Suspect in custody after terror alarm at Cologne Cathedral: What is currently known

Arrests in Vienna

According to the Austrian Ministry of the Interior, the Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution has arrested four people in an investigation into an Islamist network. The interrogations of the suspects and corresponding evaluations are ongoing, the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence Service in the Austrian Ministry of the Interior announced on Sunday. Further details could not be provided at present for reasons of criminal tactics. According to the public prosecutor's office, three suspects are being investigated for membership of a terrorist organization in connection with terrorist offences. Two men and one woman have been remanded in custody, a court spokeswoman told the Austrian news agency APA.

According to APA, the two men and the woman were arrested by special police forces in a refugee shelter in Vienna. They are accused of belonging to a radical Islamic terror network that is said to have planned attacks on Cologne Cathedral and St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Among other things, data carriers, such as cell phones, that were seized during the searches have since been evaluated, public prosecutor Nina Bussek told DPA on Tuesday. According to the APA, all three denied the allegations.

A fourth person was not being investigated on suspicion of terrorism, Bussek added. This person happened to be present when the three suspects were arrested. He was wanted for violating immigration laws and was therefore arrested.

According to DPA information, the suspected group could possibly be linked to an offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist network, which calls itself the Islamic State Province of Khorasan (ISPK) and has been fighting an armed conflict with the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan for several years. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office in Vienna declined to comment.

The Ministry of the Interior in Vienna announced on Sunday that the security situation in Austria and throughout Europe was tense. The security authorities would therefore take precautionary measures during the Christmas holidays in the form of increased observation and surveillance in public spaces.

This is the current situation around Cologne Cathedral

The security forces will remain on heightened alert into the New Year. Security precautions at Cologne Cathedral were extended into the new year on Tuesday. "All liturgical services will take place, but unfortunately tourist visits are not possible," said the cathedral's head of security, Oliver Gassen, to the German Press Agency on Tuesday. "The cathedral will be closed between services."

Visitors to church events will have to be searched by the police as before. Tourist visits, such as to the treasury or the observation tower, are reportedly not possible until New Year for security reasons. The cathedral is normally visited by more than 100,000 people from Christmas to New Year.

This is the threat situation in Germany

Following the events in Cologne, the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin referred on Sunday to "an increased threat situation in the area of Islamist terrorism". This is being taken "very seriously", "especially since the terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israel, the Gaza war and its consequences", said a spokesperson. The federal and state security authorities were therefore acting "with the utmost vigilance".

This was also evident on Monday in Bielefeld, where the main railway station was closed for several hours and searched with sniffer dogs following a telephone threat of an attack. This brought train services to a standstill. However, no suspicious objects were found during the search. The station was reopened in the evening. The Bielefeld police's state security department launched an investigation into "disturbing the public peace by threatening criminal acts".

Since the terrorist attack on Israel by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7, fears have been growing that there could also be attacks in Germany.