Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said Thursday Czech authorities have arrested two men suspected of forming a terror cell with an Iraqi detained over unsuccessful attacks on trains in Germany.
The 42-year-old Iraqi national was arrested in Vienna on Monday. He's suspected of carrying out two attacks late last year.
In October, a high-speed train hit a steel cable stretched over the tracks between electrification masts on the Nuremberg-Munich line. A window in the driver's cab was damaged but no one was injured. An Arabic-language note, which investigators described as threatening but unspecific, was found nearby.
In December, police found damage to overhead wires in Berlin as well as a note in Arabic and an ISIS flag.
The Austria Press Agency reported that Kickl told the Austrian parliament Thursday two more suspects believed to have formed a cell with the Iraqi were arrested in Prague.
Czech police said they arrested two foreigners at Austria's request, and that they were detained at Prague Airport shortly after arriving on Wednesday. They declined to give further details.
The Iraqi national’s lawyer said Wednesday that the man has admitted to obstructing rail tracks, but he denies belonging to an ISIS terrorist cell.
"He also said that he did not have a radical background," lawyer Wolfgang Blaschitz told Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
