Germany arrests Iraqi national suspected of planning Islamic State attack on Bremen church
Federal police detained 24-year-old Gailan Al-M. in Brandenburg after investigators found he obtained a firearm and scouted a church in Bremen as an initial target for the Islamic State.
Federal arrest in Brandenburg
On 17 September 2026, officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Police arrested 24-year-old Iraqi national Gailan Al-M. in the Barnim district of Brandenburg. The municipality is situated northeast of Berlin, where federal tactical units carried out the coordinated morning arrest. The operation was executed on the basis of a federal arrest warrant issued on 8 September 2026 by an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe. Following his apprehension, law enforcement officers transferred the suspect directly to Karlsruhe to appear before the federal court. The presiding investigating judge formally opened the arrest warrant and ordered Gailan Al-M. into pre-trial detention pending formal indictment by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.
Plot to attack a Bremen church
According to findings by the Federal Prosecutor's Office, Gailan Al-M. subscribes to the radical Islamist ideology of the Islamic State terrorist organisation. Investigators established that the suspect began developing concrete operational plans in the spring of 2025 to carry out armed attacks against people he considered non-believers. In furtherance of these plans, Gailan Al-M. acquired a functional firearm through illicit channels. He also conducted on-site reconnaissance of a church in the northern city of Bremen. Federal prosecutors stated that the Bremen church was selected to serve as the initial target in an intended series of coordinated violent attacks across Germany.
Failed recruitment and formal charges
Federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe formally charged Gailan Al-M. with three statutory offenses under German law. The charges comprise the attempted formation of a terrorist organisation, the preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state, and violations of the German Weapons Act. The investigation revealed that the suspect actively sought to recruit like-minded individuals to create an armed extremist cell. Gailan Al-M. succeeded in enlisting one accomplice, who remains unidentified as investigators continue tracking their whereabouts. However, his efforts to expand the cell failed when other candidates refused recruitment, leaving the network with only two members and prompting prosecutors to file attempted formation charges.
The recruitment of further persons failed.
- Gailan Al-M. plans attacks against non-believers, procures a firearm, and scouts a church in Bremen.
- An investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice issues an arrest warrant for Gailan Al-M.
- Federal police arrest the suspect in Barnim, and a judge orders pre-trial detention in Karlsruhe.
National security measures and extremist threat
The arrest in Brandenburg coincides with recent counter-terrorism operations and legislative changes across Germany. Earlier in the same week, the German federal cabinet passed a legislative package designed to strengthen protections against Islamist terrorism. That policy initiative responded to a July vehicle-ramming attack in Berlin, where a 21-year-old Islamist drove into a park crowd during an LGBT+ rights demonstration, killing one woman and injuring 31 others. In late June, federal authorities also conducted multi-state raids against five suspected Islamic State members across three federal states who had entered the country to link up with European operatives. Islamic State cells remain active internationally as well, including in southern Syria, where three security officers were killed in Daraa on 17 September 2026 during an attempt to arrest group affiliates.
