German police carried out a nationwide series of raids on an extreme right-wing group that was allegedly planning bomb attacks on mosques and housing for alyssum seekers.  Three men ranging in age from 39- to 57-years old, and one 22-year old woman, were taken into custody.

Prosecutors say the quartet founded something called the “Oldschool Society”, and were planning to attack asylum seeker housing, mosques, and well-known Islamic extremists in Germany.  The four are being held on terrorism charges, and are also accused of procuring explosives.

“We are very glad that it hopefully has been nipped in the bud – everything else will be shown by the investigation,” said German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere.

In recent years, there have been clashes between German right-wing groups and Islamic extremists.  The Interior Ministry reports an increase in racially motivated attacks, with 175 racially motivated attacks in 2014 and only 58 the year before.  And more recently, Germany has been rocked by the xenophobic Pegida movement which purports to fight the “Islamization of Europe”.