Swiss officials say police are conducting a raid in a mosque in the northern city of .
Officials say that the police operation at An Nur mosque was continuing Wednesday morning, and that a regional prosecutor based in nearby Zurich would make a statement shortly.
Swiss daily Tages Anzeiger reported that investigators were focusing on the mosque’s new preacher, who is from Somalia.
The newspaper wrote that in the past, a number of young men who were regulars at the mosque later left to join the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
In the wake of extremist attacks in Europe in recent years, Swiss authorities have been stepping up controls and surveillance of suspected militants who could cause violence.
The Swiss intelligence service estimates that 77 people “motivated by jihad” have left Switzerland to travel to conflict zones since 2001, more than four in five of them to Iraq and Syria. The service says 21 of them are believed to be dead, while others are still active in the conflict regions or have returned to Switzerland.
ap.org
