German police raid mosque in search of radical preachers
German security forces have stormed a mosque run by a group they say is radicalizing young people in the country and urging them to join terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.
Some 400 volunteer security staff members, along with a special police task force, raided a mosque and eight private apartments in the city of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, on Wednesday night, searching for members of DIK, a group that, according to German media, runs sermons, seminars and lectures entitled “the hatred of infidels.”
Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius said the DIK in Hildesheim is “a nationwide hot spot” of radicals “that we have been watching for a long time. After months of preparation, we have taken an important step to end the association.”
No reports of possible arrests in the operation were released, however.
A number of people radicalized by the DIK are thought to have traveled to join terrorist groups in the Middle East.
Most groups radicalizing people are believed to be directly affiliated with Wahhabism, an extreme ideological strand originating from Saudi Arabia. It is the main ideological feature of Takfiri terrorist groups — particularly Daesh — which declare people of other faiths and beliefs as “infidels” and, based on “decrees” from “clerics,” rule that they should be killed.
Daesh is mainly operating in Iraq and Syria, and is believed to be receiving support from a number of Arab dictatorships.
A spate of attacks in Germany has shocked the European country since July 18.
Last week, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee detonated explosives in the city of Ansbach in Bavaria, killing himself and injuring 15 people. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.
On July 19, a teenager, identified as an Afghan asylum seeker, who wielded an axe and a knife, wounded four passengers on a regional train, before injuring a passerby. He was then killed by police. Daesh also claimed responsibility for that attack.
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