BERLIN — German authorities said Sunday that they have arrested a Libyan national with suspected ties to the extremist Islamic State group who was allegedly planning a firearms attack on the Israeli Embassy.
Police and other security forces detained the man on Saturday evening in Bernau, a town just outside of Berlin, and searched his home there, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement.
The prosecutor's office said the suspect was a Libyan national whom they identified only as Omar A.
''He intended to carry out a high-profile attack with firearms on the Israeli Embassy in Berlin,'' the statement said. In his planning, the statement added, ''the accused exchanged information with a member of IS in a messenger chat.''
Security forces also searched the home of another person who is considered a witness and not a suspect, the prosecutor's statement said.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that German security authorities "struck in time to thwart possible plans to attack the Israeli Embassy in Berlin."
''This shows that protecting Jewish and Israeli institutions in our country is vital and of the utmost importance to us,'' she added.
The suspect brought on Sunday before an investigating judge at the country's highest court, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.
