‘Isis fanatics planned to feed poisoned ice-cream to kindergarten kids before bombing nursery’

Alan Hall writes in the Evening Standard:

An alleged Islamic State plot to feed poisoned ice cream to kindergarten children before detonating a bomb in their nursery car park has been revealed in Germany.

The plan reportedly came to light during hearings relating to the case of two IS fanatics accused of blowing up a Sikh temple in the industrial city of Essen during wedding celebrations.

Mohammed O., 17, one of the alleged temple bombers who carried out the assault in April which wounded four people, planned to sell the toxic ices before blowing himself up in the midst of the children.

Yusuf T., 17, was accused of being the leader of the so-called Temple bomber group. The young Salafists first allegedly formed their murder gang on Whatsapp and built bombs from ingredients ordered from online retailer Amazon.

When they were captured after the bombing a letter that Mohammed O. had written to Yusuf T. while he was in detention was intercepted by guards, a court heard. On it he posed the question: “May one kill targetted children?”

The letter allegedly went on to say: “I work as an ice cream man with my ice cream van and sell to many children.  May I, following Sharia law, use arsenic or warfarin, or better still strychnine, to kill children?”

Then the final question was put to his leader: “Can I make Istis hadi Amaliya (suicide) in the kindergarten too?”

The court was told that he also suggested in the two page letter written on A4 paper if it might also be possible to crash the van into the kindergarten. He further asked if it was permissible for him to “rape the girls of the enemies of the Prophet Muhammad,” it is claimed.

He allegedly urged Yusuf T. secretly to obtain a mobile phone so that he could make phone calls to plot the outrage. Investigators admitted at the trial in Essen that phone numbers of IS sympathisers were later found on a device owned by T.

Yusuf T’s defender Burkhard Bahri said: “My client suffered a deep impression in pre-trial detention and has renounced the Salafist scene. He wants to have nothing more to do with it and will therefore  testify fully in court.”