Germany: Extremists arrested

German police have, in a series of raids, arrested 38 people suspected of involvement in Islamic extremism.

The interior ministry of the western state of Hesse said 33 suspects did not have valid papers and three were wanted in relation to other offences.

The arrests were made in 20 towns and cities across the state.

The raids come days after French police arrested nine people said to be suspected of plotting attacks on targets including Paris’ underground.

“The goal of the state-wide search and control action was the pre-emptive combating of criminal Islamic structures,” Hesse’s Interior Minister Volker Bouffier said.