Police arrest 13 in cross-Europe anti-terror operation
Italian-led operation targets group aiming to overthrow Kurdish regional government in Iraq
Thirteen people were arrested in a counter-terrorism operation across six European countries Thursday morning.
The Italian-led operation saw officers launch simultaneous raids to detain suspected members of Rawti Shax, an organization that aims to overthrow the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq.
The suspects were detained by police in Italy, the U.K., Norway, Finland, Germany and Switzerland on Thursday morning.
Four of the men, with ages ranging from 32 to 56, were arrested in the U.K. under European arrest warrants, British police said.
A statement from Eurojust, the European Union agency for judicial cooperation, said Rawti Shax "became active in providing logistical and financial support to recruiting foreign terrorist fighters to be sent to Syria and Iraq".
The group "represents an evolution of Ansar Al Islam, which is listed by the UN as a terrorist organization affiliated with Al-Qaeda", Eurojust added.
