German police have raided several homes in northern and western Germany in a co-ordinated operation, along with a mosque in Hildesheim near Hanover and arrested five people close to ISIL. The mosque has been on police radar for some time as a hotbed of Salafist Islam.<br /><br /> 400 cops including SEK raid Salafi Mosque in Hildesheim, Germany. Preachers there called for Jihad and Hijra. https://t.co/6oqJ1L6Rux— Björn Stritzel (@bjoernstritzel) July 27, 2016<br /><br /> They include an Iraqi national, Abu Walaa, known as “the preacher without a face”, and described by an informant, a 22-year-old former ISIL fighter who fled to Turkey before returning to Germany, as the extremist group’s number one in the country. All are accused of recruiting for the organisation.<br /><br /> Also arrested were a 50-year-old Turk, a 36-year-old man with German and Serb nationality and two men in their twenties from Germany and Cameroon.<br />
