17 people detained in Europe-wide crackdown on 'jihadist network'

Police have targeted 17 people in raids over various European countries, with suspects being detained over a suspected "jihadist network", international media report.

Italian newspaper, La Repubblica reports that the swoop was announced by Italy’s Special operations group within the Carabinieri (ROS), and that six suspects were detained in Italy, four in Britain, and three in Norway.

Police believe some of the suspects may have travelled to Syria or Iraq, and that they were plotting to free network leader Mullah Krekar (Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad), who is currently being detained in Norway.

Italy's Ansa news agency has also reported that the suspects were accused of international terrorism association.

 La Repubblica adds, that the Europe-wide operation was codenamed JWEB, and it has resulted in the arrests of 17 Kurdish citizens and one Kosovar.

The paper also adds that those arrested had planned potential attacks in the middle East and in northern Europe, and it quoted Ros commander Giuseppe Governale saying that the attempts could have targeted “Norwegian and English diplomats, in exchange for the liberation of Mullah Krekar.”

The Telegraph reports that Norway's security service PST, told Norwegian media that the jailed Iraqi-born cleric and two others had been arrested on suspicion of their involvement in a terror plot in Italy.

According to reports, Mullah Krekar and two others whom she didn't name, face a court hearing Friday in Oslo, Norway, pending a possible deportation to Italy, and Krekar was sentenced to 18 months in jail for praising the slaying of cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, in January this year.

The Telegraph adds that earlier this year, Ahmad was freed after nearly three years' imprisonment for making death threats. The 59-year-old Kurd, who came to Norway as a refugee in 1991, was convicted in 2005 for a similar offense.