Police arrest seven members of ‘radical Islamic terrorist group’

Police in Argentina say they have arrested seven people with alleged links to a "radical Islamic terrorist group" plotting anti-Christian and anti-Jewish attacks.

Government officials said the group had been planning attacks in the western province of Mendoza.

Argentina’s Federal Police (PFA) said in a statement issued Friday night that the alleged terror group had sent “anti-Christian” and “anti-Jewish” messages online that were linked to “terrorist organisations such as Islamic State and the Taliban Emirate of Afghanistan.”

The raids led to the “seizure of firearms, bladed weapons and electronic devices,” as well as “written works of Salafist origin," referring to the ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam, said the PFA.

Members of the PFA's Anti-Terrorist Investigation Unit led the operation.

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said in a post on her X account that “in eight raids the PFA dismantled a dangerous organisation linked to a radical Islamic terrorist group.”

"This organisation used [social] networks to spread messages of hate, attack plans and content from terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and the Taliban," she added.

Bullrich said the group had been “identified after threatening a journalist from the Jewish community.”

She headlined her post with the words: “SEVEN TERRORISTS OUT!”

The investigation was initiated following a complaint by the DAIA Jewish community group, reported local outlets, which said the security forces had identified the alleged aggressor and found he was part of a wider group.

Argentina has the largest Jewish community in Latin America, with some 300,000 members. It is also home to immigrant communities from the Middle East – from Syria and Lebanon in particular.

The community has been the target of two attacks: first, an attack on the Israeli Embassy in 1992 claimed 22 deaths and injured 242; two years later, the terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish community centre killed 85 and left 300 injured.

Back in January, Bullrich had announced the arrest of another alleged terrorist cell she said were planning an attack in Buenos Aires. But within days, a judge ruled that the accusations against those accused, which included a hairdresser and a ping pong player, lacked merit.

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 organisation.

"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.

– TIMES/AFP