Argentine police nab seven people allegedly linked to ‘terrorist group’

Handout photo released on August 17, 2024 by the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) showing a break-in during an operation to dismantle an alleged terrorist cell -a “radical Islamist terrorist group” according to the Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich- that would have been planning an attack to the Jewish community in Mendoza, Argentina on August 16, 2024. The operation, carried out by the Anti-Terrorism Investigation Unit Department (DAIA) resulted in the arrest of seven people and the seizure of firearms (shotguns, rifles and revolvers), bladed weapons, and electronic devices according to the official record. Agence France-Presse

BUENOS AIRES — Argentine police have arrested seven people with alleged links to a “radical Islamic terrorist group” plotting anti-Christian and anti-Jewish attacks, officials said.

The group had been planning attacks in the western Mendoza state, and was identified after threatening a journalist from the Jewish community, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said on social media platform X late Friday.

“In eight raids, the PFA (Argentina Federal Police) dismantled a dangerous organization linked to a radical Islamic terrorist group,” she added.

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“This organization used (social) networks to spread messages of hate, attack plans and content from terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and the Taliban.”

The PFA in a statement said members of the group had spread “anti-Christian and anti-Jewish” messages online, “planning attacks” in Mendoza.

The raids yielded firearms, knives and electronic devices as well as “written works of Salafist origin,” referring to the ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, the statement said.

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Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with about 250,000 people.

The community has been the target of two attacks: one on the Israeli embassy in 1992 in which 29 people died, and another on the Argentine Mutual Israelite Association (AMIA) two years later which claimed 85 lives.

President Javier Milei has repeatedly stated that Israel is one of Argentina’s main allies. In July, his government declared Hamas, the Palestinian group fighting Israel in Gaza, to be a terrorist organization.

“We are going to get rid of each and every one of these criminals who try to sow fear in Argentines, and they will pay,” said Bullrich.