Cyprus authorities have detained a man on suspicion of being involved in planning a terrorist attack on the east Mediterranean island, a police spokesman said Friday.
The Associated Press quoted spokesman Andreas Angelides as having said that police have “an individual in custody on possible charges pertaining to terrorism laws.”
Angelides declined to identify the suspect, the level of his involvement in the plot and what the intended target would have been. He said disclosure of any details about the case could compromise an ongoing investigation.
However, state radio CyBC quoted an unidentified senior police official as saying that “Israeli interests” in the southern coastal town of Limassol were to be targeted.
CyBC said the suspect, a foreign national, was arrested a week ago.
An official at the Israeli Embassy in Nicosia refused to comment on the matter. Cyprus’ government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou also declined to comment.
Terrorists who planned to strike Israeli targets have been arrested in several locations around the world recently. Earlier this month, officials in Nairobi reported that two Iranian terrorists who were arrested in Kenya were planning to attack Israeli, American, British and Saudi targets in the country.
According to the officials, 15 kg of RDX-type explosives, designed to carry out powerful terrorist attacks, were found to be in the possession of the terrorists.
In March, Azerbaijan arrested 22 citizens suspected of plotting on behalf of Iran to attack the American and Israel embassies in Baku.
A month earlier, Azerbaijani authorities arrested a terrorist cell whose members belonged to the Hizbullah terror group and held Iranian passports.
On February 13, a motorcycle-borne terrorist planted a magnetic bomb on the car of Tal Yehoshua-Koren, wife of Israel’s military attaché in New Delhi.
Yehoshua-Koren was moderately wounded as she narrowly escaped the blast. Her Indian driver and two other embassy staffers were also lightly wounded.
Arrest warrants have been issued for three Iranians in connection with the attack.