- Title: Germany must brace for more attacks by radicalized Muslims - officials
- Date: 4th July 2017
- Summary: OFFENBACH, GERMANY (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE AT SALAFIST EVENT WOMEN IN NIQAB VARIOUS OF SALAFIST PREACHER SVEN LAU SPEAKING ON STAGE WOMAN FILMING ON MOBILE PHONE
- Embargoed: 18th July 2017 14:00
- Keywords: de Maiziere security Germany cyber attacks
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0046OAXIYV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany should brace for further attacks given growing numbers of potential Islamist militants, top security officials warned on Tuesday (July 4), vowing to step up efforts to prosecute, convict and deport suspects.
Germany was hit by five Islamist attacks in 2016, including a December attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, while an additional seven attacks failed or were thwarted, Hans-Georg Maassen, president of Germany's BfV domestic intelligence agency, told reporters.
The agency's annual report for 2016 said there were 24,400 Islamists in Germany, including around 9,700 Salafists, and the number of Salafists had increased to 10,100 this year. The total also includes some 10,000 members of the Turkish Islamist Milliu Gorus movement, the report showed.
The total number of suspected Islamists marks a drop from the year earlier, but the report said that did not mean the threat had diminished.
The report said hundreds of "jihadists" had entered the country among the over one million migrants who had come into Germany over the past two years.
Altogether, security officials were keeping tabs on some 680 potential Islamist threats, most of whom were influenced by Salafist ideology, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
Germany also expects Russia to seek to influence its general election on Sept. 24, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said, adding that data stolen in a 2015 hack of the lower house of parliament could surface in the coming weeks. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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