Islamists top threat to Germany
Presenting the government's annual domestic intelligence report, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday said Islamic fundamentalists posed a bigger threat to Germany than neo-Nazis, anarchists or other extremist groups.
Islamist terrorism "continues to be the greatest threat to stability and security in Germany and Europe," Schäuble said in Berlin.
It is only thanks to hard work from German intelligence services and their partners in other countries that there have as yet been no serious terrorist attacks in Germany, Schäuble said. He said Germany continues to be a target for terrorists because of its growing military engagement in Afghanistan and the strengthening of the terrorist network Al Qaida.
Intelligence services must develop their ability to gather information in order to prevent future attacks, Schäuble said.
The interior minister also said neo-Nazis continued attempts last year to infiltrate mainstream German culture . . . The government report tallied 4,400 neo-Nazis in Germany in 2007, an increase of 200 people over the previous year. Some 6,300 potentially violent leftists were tallied in 2007. . . formed in part from the ashes of the East German communist party.
Posted on 3:30 AM by Esmerelda Weatherwax
