BERLIN, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- German police raided the homes of suspected terrorists in four cities simultaneously Tuesday and arrested six men, all of them Syrian nationals.
Security forces searched eight apartments before sunrise in the cities of Kassel in the center, Hannover in the north, Essen in the west and Leipzig in the east. Six men aged between 20 and 28 years were taken into custody and several cell phones, laptops and documents were seized, German newspaper Die Welt reported.
The detainees are suspected of being members of the Islamic State (IS) who were preparing for an act of violence.
The daily reported that the men had entered Germany as asylum seekers using false identities. However, genuine refugees tipped off the authorities about them.
Several witnesses said the men had been active IS fighters in Syria.
Investigations by German security forces revealed that the suspects were socially connected to one another.
Police in Germany have repeatedly received warnings about potential terrorists and war criminals from Syria and Iraq posing as refugees.
While the accusations were proved to be unfounded in a majority of cases, a few dozen however are still being investigated by the Federal Criminal Police Office.
