Norway charges alleged ISIS extremist with terror plot targeting London landmark

Prosecutors say he shared bomb-making details and claimed Denmark would become the 'new France'

Police in Norway have charged a man with plotting ISIS attacks. Alamy

A man has been charged with three ISIS-inspired terror plots, including one targeting a London landmark.

Prosecutors say the man, 24, who has not been named, shared bomb-making instructions on social media and plotted two attacks in Denmark and one in London, claiming Denmark would be the "new France".

Police in Norway have charged the man with a series of terrorism offences and say he was the administrator of a number of extremist online communities.

He is also accused of sharing ISIS propaganda and other material produced by the terrorist group.

The man was apprehended after chat messages were discovered in which he planned the attacks with a second, unknown person.

Public prosecutor Geir Evanger said that police in the UK were able to thwart a planned attack in London to target St Paul's Cathedral and that two other attacks were planned in Denmark.

“Charges have been brought against a person for three attempts at participating in terror (attacks),” Mr Evanger said.

“We believe that this is part of the new form of participation in ISIS. It is based on sharing extremist material, violent material and material with religious content.”

Mr Evanger said the man was an administrator for several groups on social media, including some he had created, and was considered to be “a relatively central participant in many of these groups”.

The attacks in Denmark, planned for March and April 2019, were also prevented.

The man is also suspected of making a video in which he encouraged others to commit violent attacks in Denmark.

He has denied the charges and has been remanded in custody.

Last July, British woman Safiyya Shaikh was jailed for life for plotting to blow up St Paul's Cathedral, a nearby hotel and a subway train in a suicide attack.

It is not known whether the cases are linked.

Shaikh told police that she wanted to carry out a suicide bombing like the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people.

Her plans came to light when she tried to get help from a fellow extremist and bomb-making expert but failed to realise he was an undercover police officer.