EUR: Threat to Germany at 'new level' after video: ministry
29 Jan 2009 12:00 AM
BERLIN, Jan 28 AFP - A new internet video from Islamic extremists threatening attacks on Germany - the second such to appear this month - represents a "new level" of threat, authorities said on Wednesday.
The message from the militant Islamic Jihad Union posted in several languages including German promised "a few surprise gifts for the occupation forces," apparently referring to Berlin's role in NATO operations in Afghanistan.
It added: "The ally of the occupation forces should always count on our attacks," and mentioned German Chancellor Angela Merkel by name.
The video "represents a new level of threat for Germany in the opinion of our security services," an interior ministry spokesman told AFP.
On Saturday, the ministry said it was also taking seriously another video posted on YouTube in which militants threatened to carry out attacks in the cities of Berlin, Cologne and Bremen over Germany's engagement in Afghanistan.
A man identified as Bekkay Harrach, who was born in Morocco but lived for several years in Bonn, appeared in the German-language video saying that "time was running out for Germany."
Germany has about 3,300 soldiers in the relatively safe north of Afghanistan as part of Nato's 50,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and Berlin decided last year to increase its contingent to 4,500 troops.
The closest Germany came to an attack on home soil was believed to be in July 2006, when Islamic militants placed suitcases containing home-made bombs on two regional trains passing through Cologne's busy main train station. They failed to detonate.
However German troops in Afghanistan have become frequent targets of attack by Taliban insurgents. A suicide bomb exploded this month outside the German embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing two Afghans and wounding US and German nationals.
A Taliban spokesman said the target was two German embassy vehicles.
