Swiss Arrest 5 in Terror Case

Swiss authorities said Friday that they had detained five Muslims suspected of using Islamic extremist websites to show the killing of hostages and to give bomb-making instructions.

The videos reportedly included the beheading of an American, but officials said it was unclear if any of the deaths had taken place in Iraq.

“The sites, which were actively exploited by at least one of the arrested persons, included numerous videos showing the putting to death of hostages and the mutilation of human beings,” the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Spokesman Peter Lehmann declined to go into detail about the depicted slayings and said the locations of the killings had yet to be determined.

All the suspects were “of the Islamic faith, with extremist leanings,” the office said. It did not identify any of them, but said they had come from Tunisia and Belgium and were legal residents of Switzerland.

The detainees were under investigation for incitement to crime and supporting a terrorist organization, the office said.

Swiss media reported that one site, now shut down, had included a video showing the beheading of American Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was kidnapped and killed in Saudi Arabia in June, as well as a threat to kill Italian aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who were abducted in Baghdad on Sept. 7 and freed Sept. 28.

Other postings included a sermon by an Iraqi cleric urging Muslims to behead Jews and fight a holy war against non-believers; pictures of Osama bin Laden fighting in Afghanistan; and graphic images of a man being beaten to death during Christian-Muslim violence in Indonesia.

The five suspects were detained Feb. 22 in raids in the capital, Bern, and nearby Fribourg, the prosecutor’s office said.

Three of the suspects are still in custody. The other two have been released but remained under investigation, the office said. Police also seized computers, software, video recordings and images.