German police arrest suspected jihadists

Police in Berlin arrested two suspected extremists on Thursday during a series of raids targeting possible Islamists in the German capital. The police said they were also examining a "suspicious object" discovered during the operation in the Britz neighborhood of Berlin, prompting the evacuation of several nearby buildings as "precautionary" measure.

The two suspects in custody were men aged 28 and 46, according to German news agency DPA. An Islamic cultural center in the district of Charlottenburg was also searched with police sniffer dogs, but the authorities later reported that no source for concern had been found.

The "suspicious object," which the police did not elaborate on, was found in the mens' vehicle.

According to the popular "Bild" newspaper, the officers had been acting on a tip-off that an attack on the city was being planned, as police forces across Europe remain on high alert following the violent "Islamic State" (IS)-linked attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

Following the tragedy in Paris, the federal government warned that Germany was also a likely target for terrorists and that the threat level was higher than usual. Earlier this week, the Berlin city senate approved a new bill to increase the presence of security forces in the capital.

es/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)