German police raid Berlin neighborhood in search of terrorists

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – Police raided several buildings in a Berlin industrial area looking for two radical leftist Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorists, local media reported Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, there was an operation by a special police commando (SEK) in Berlin’s Friedrichshain district as part of the search for Ernst Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who, as former members of the Red Army Faction (RAF), have been wanted for almost 35 years.

Stun grenades are said to have been detonated on a site in Friedrichshain. Contrary to initial reports, no shots were fired, according to the Berlin-based Tagesspiegel newspaper.

At least five people - four men and one woman- were briefly detained but later released.

The latest police raid comes in the wake of Monday’s arrest of Daniela Klette, a senior RAF figure.

She was detained in the Kreuzberg district, after being on the run for 30 years.

Just like Staub and Garweg, the 65-year-old belonged to the third generation of RAF members and was accused of attempted murder, and involvement in several attacks and robberies between 1999 and 2016.

Authorities believe the trio robbed supermarkets and cash-in-transit trucks to finance their underground life.

RAF was founded in 1970 and was responsible for dozens of assassinations, kidnappings and bomb attacks, targeting businessmen, state officials and US soldiers.

The group announced its self-dissolution in 1998.