Kosovo says it foiled Isis attack on Israel’s soccer team

Police in Kosovo have said officers prevented simultaneous attacks by the Islamic State (Isis) group, including a planned assault on the Israeli national soccer team as it played in neighbouring Albania last weekend.

They said 18 people were arrested in Kosovo and six more in Albania or Macedonia in relation to the plot.

Police found explosive devices, weapons and electronic equipment at the suspects’ homes and premises, .

Groups in the three countries, co-ordinated by two Albanians who are part of the Isis terror group in Syria, had “clear targets on who . . . should be attacked”, police said.

The venue of last weekend’s World Cup qualifier was changed for “security reasons” from the northern Albanian city of Shkodër, near the border with Montenegro, to Elbasan, which is much nearer to the capital Tirana.

A police statement said plans were in place to attack Saturday’s match and, at the same time, another target in Kosovo.

Nineteen people were detained in Kosovo on November 4th, of whom one has since been released, police said.

Albania and Macedonia announced that six more people had been detained.

‘Extremist ideology’

Kosovo police said it also found “religious material and literature from well-known authors recognised for their extremist ideology”.

Scores of Kosovans and Albanians are fighting for Isis in Syria and Iraq.

AP