News / Germany

Daesh terrorists plan attacks in Germany, official says

Sunday, 10 April 2016 5:24 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 10 April 2016 5:23 AM ]

Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV)

The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group is planning to carry out attacks in Germany, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution says, stressing that security situation in the country is "very serious."

Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of the office, which is also known as the BfV, was quoted by the Welt am Sonntag paper on Sunday that Daesh terrorists, which are mainly active in Syria and Iraq, are planning to carry out raids against Germany and its interests.

Maassen, however, said that he knew of no concrete plot to strike, adding, "At the moment, we don't have any knowledge of any concrete terrorist attack plans in Germany."

On April 5, Daesh released a video claiming that it may launch more attacks in European countries in the wake of the Brussels bombings of March and the Paris attacks of November 2015. The group named London, Berlin and Rome as possible targets.

The BfV chief said the propaganda video was aimed at persuading Daesh sympathizers to carry out attacks in Germany.

Maassen said there were several cases linking German militants returning from Syria to attack plans in their home country.

Germany has avoided a huge terror raid so far due to the successful work of its security agencies, Maassen said, adding that on one or two other occasions bomb detonators did not work properly.

Soldiers patrol as workers install concrete blocks in the background to make a barrier as extra security measures in front of the Belgian Federal Parliament building on April 2016 in Brussels, after the March 22, 2016 terror attacks. ©AFP

In 2012, a man left a bag containing a home-made pipe bomb at the main railway station in the former German capital of Bonn. The bomb did not explode because of poor construction. In another failed attack, two suitcase bombs left by militants on trains in Cologne did not go off in 2006.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Maassen said the BfV was aware of some 300 attempts by Salafists and other militants to recruit asylum seekers who have arrived in Germany in recent years.

"I'm particularly concerned about the many unaccompanied minors -- this group is being deliberately targeted," he said, adding that he saw a "huge radicalization potential" in the militants’ attempts to recruit the refugees.

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