Two Somali-born men were pulled off KLM Flight 1804 and arrested at the airport in Cologne, Germany this morning — just moments before the flight was scheduled to depart for Amsterdam. 

German police had been watching the men for months. They won't say whether they believe the men intended to attack the airplane, only that they had had left suicide notes saying they were willing to sacrifice themselves for "jihad," or holy war.

The Washington Post reports:

Authorities identified the men as a 23-year-old Somali national and a 24-year-old German citizen born in Mogadishu. Officials did not immediately release the men's names or give other details of where they had been livingprior to their arrests.

"They are under suspicion of intending to participate in the jihad and in possible attacks," Frank Scheulen, a spokesman for police in the state ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia, told German television. "Farewell letters were written."

The men were allegedly living in or around Cologne. Der Tagesspiegel reports that they were ticketed to Amsterdam, then to Uganda and finally to Pakistan. 

The Guardian's Kate Connolly has a great piece on today's arrests, with backstory:

The arrest of the men, who are being held in custody, comes as German authorities are on high alert for a German-born convert to Islam who is believed to have spent months training in terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is unknown if today's arrests are in any way connected. But authorities at border crossings across the country were told on September 20 to watch out for 21-year-old Eric Breininger, from Saarland, and two accomplices.

The three are believed to be on their way back to Germany from Pakistan. They were last seen in the Bosnian town of Zenica just over a week ago. Breininger is known to have links to a suspected Islamist terror cell known as the Sauerland group, which planned car bomb attacks in Germany last year. 

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