Germany Searches Properties in Probe

BERLIN — German authorities searched properties in three cities Saturday in an investigation of a group of suspected Islamic militants believed to have been planning attacks in the country, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Prosecutors said five people, most of them in the eastern city of Cottbus, were believed to have formed a group “with the aim of committing attacks” that they hoped would “defend and spread Islamic values.”

The prosecutors gave no information on the identity and background of the people involved, who are suspected of membership in a terrorist organization. Prosecutors refused to say whether anyone had been detained.

Eleven properties were searched Saturday, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement. They were in and around Cottbus; in Gross-Gerau, near Frankfurt; and in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, near the southwestern city of Stuttgart.

Prosecutors added that authorities had no information on what kind of attacks were planned, or on any targets the group had planned to hit.

Earlier Saturday, the German newsweekly Focus cited as suspected targets the U.S. air base at Spangdahlem, near the border with Luxembourg, and a number of Jewish facilities in Berlin and Frankfurt.