The UK’s north-east counter-terrorism unit (Nectu) said four men had been arrested in Britain in connection with the operation, which has been led by Italian authorities.
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At least six suspects were detained in Italy, with four more taken into custody in Britain and three in Norway.
The 13 associated individuals with a jihadist gathering captured in assaults crosswise over Europe were professedly enrolling outside contenders to be sent to Iraq and Syria. Italian authorities said Rawti Shax used religious and cultural activities as a cover for its terror organization, and added that at least two of the fighters recruited by Rawti Shax died in the Syrian conflict. The investigations and continuous cooperation have been ongoing for years in Italy as well as in other European countries, particularly Switzerland and Germany, progressively revealing the structure and operations of this terrorist organisation.
The ANSA news agency said the suspects are accused of global terrorism association.
The cell was allegedly run by the Iraqi Kurd Najmuddin Ahmad Faraj, better known as Mullah Krekar, from prison in Norway. Italian police said that the group was plotting attacks in Norway and elsewhere in Europe, BBC reported.
Eleven more alleged members were arrested in Finland, Norway and Italy yesterday but other suspects were said to have fled to Islamic State (ISIS) territory. Krekar has resisted being expelled from Norway for years, and remains in the country only because Norwegian authorities haven’t been able to extract an agreement that Krekar wouldn’t face a death sentence back in his own home country of Iraq.
Ahmad’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjar Meling, told reporters in Norway “suspicions against Krekar have largely been based on false accusations”.
It had “dismantled an integrated cell” that had developed “on the “dark web”, little-known [internet] platforms that we have managed to penetrate”, he said.
Eurojust said Rawti Shax, or Didi Nwe, (the “new course” or “towards the mountain”) represented an “evolution of Ansar al-Islam”, which is listed by the United Nations as a terrorist organisation affiliated with al-Qaeda.
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The early-morning raids targeted the Rawti Shax group, which police said was a Kurdish Sunni Muslim group dedicated to overthrowing the government of Iraq’s Kurdistan region and replacing it with rule by Sharia (Islamic law).
