Ethiopia said on Saturday it had arrested an unspecified number of militant members of the Somali group al Shabaab and Islamic State who were planning to carry out attacks in the country on various targets including hotels, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Some of those arrested were carrying out intelligence work including photographing potential targets, the National Intelligence Security Services (NISS) said in a statement read out on state-affiliated broadcaster Fana.
“The group was ... preparing to attack hotels, religious festivities gathering places and public areas in Addis Ababa,” NISS said.
Ethiopian intelligence coordinated with neighboring Djibouti to detain the suspects including their leader, Muhammed Abdulahi, NISS said.
Those detained, NISS said, were arrested in the capital Addis Ababa, Oromia and Ethiopia’s Somali region.