Polish authorities have foiled a planned Islamic State terrorist attack on a Christmas market.The Daily Mail reports that security services in the country have detained a 19-year-old student suspected of preparing an attack that could have caused mass casualties.Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesman for Poland’s security services, said that Mateusz W., a student at the Catholic University in Lublin, wanted to commit a terror attack using explosives and planned to establish contact with a terrorist organization."The man was very fascinated by Islam, sought to establish contacts with the Islamic State, and was preparing an attack in Poland, in one of the cities during a Christmas market," Dobrzynski said during a press conference.Dobrzynski also said Internal Security Agency officers “seized data carriers and items related to Islam.”The suspect was apprehended in his apartment in Lublin, eastern Poland, in November..CHRISTMAS TERROR: Car plows into Christmas market in Germany.The prosecutor’s office charged Mateusz W. with "undertaking preparatory actions to carry out a terrorist attack that could have resulted in the death or serious injury of many people."The authorities have not released any further information about the suspect, but have placed him in detention for an initial period of three months.This incident comes as multiple terror attacks have been plotted and carried out at Christmas markets in Europe in recent years.On Sunday, German authorities arrested three Moroccans, an Egyptian, and a Syrian suspected of being involved in a plot to drive a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the state of Bavaria.In June, Polish authorities charged three 19-year-old men with plotting terror attacks and stockpiling explosive materials, including a suspected plan to target a school in the northern Polish city of Olsztyn.“You are familiar with the issue from Olsztyn; now we have another example of an attack being prepared before Christmas,” Dobrzynski stated.“We are shocked by the incident in Sydney, we are shocked by the attacks that occurred in previous years before Christmas in other European countries. Let’s remain vigilant.”
