Results tagged “Germany”
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A Somali man was arrested at a refugee center in Giessen and is accused of acting as a bookkeeper for pirates who hijacked the tanker Marida Marguerite in May 2010 and held the crew for six months until a multimillion-dollar ransom was paid. Last year another Somali involved in the Marida Margerite hijacking, Mohammad Saaili Shibin, was sentenced by a US court to life in prison for hijacking a yacht and killing the four Americans on board in 2009.
The Interior Minister said the government is aware that known jihadists have traveled to Syria to fight with the rebels, and that there have been calls for European fighters to return home for jihad; he said Germany is following the development with "great concern." German officials believe that German jihadists, including Reda Seyam, are assisting with fundraising for Islamist fighters in Syria.
Germany announced a plan to keep as many as 800 military trainers in Afghanistan after the NATO withdrawal in 2014. The plan calls for reducing the number of German soldiers in the country to about 300 by 2017.
European security officials are looking into the possibility that an Iranian-run factory in Dinslaken may have been supplying equipment and materials for Iran's nuclear weapons program. Germany sent a plane to Syria to bring back over 30 Syrians wounded in the Syrian conflict to Germany for treatment.
The Foreign and Interior ministers have indicated that they would support a European Union ban on the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah if its role in the 2012 suicide attack in Burgas, Bulgaria is confirmed. France remains opposed to such a ban.
Three suspects arrested yesterday for plotting to murder the leader of a far-right political party hold German passports and the fourth suspect is an Albanian. Raids yesterday on some 20 apartments belonging to Salafists did not result in any arrests, but laptops, cash, propaganda material, and phones were confiscated. One of the Salafist groups banned yesterday is suspected of helping to fund Islamist groups in Syria.
Authorities banned three radical Islamist groups -- DawaFFM, Islamic Audios, and al-Nussrah -- and raided 21 apartments and a meeting room. The three groups all encourage fighting against those who do not follow the Salafist version of Islam. The German Salafist movement has grown from some 3,800 In 2011 to about 4,500, of whom 30% are non-Germans and 25% are Muslim converts. Four Salafists were arrested last night for planning the murder of a far-right political party leader.
A German-language jihadist propaganda video has surfaced, featuring a Syrian Islamist fighter named Hajan M. who urges Germans to come fight with rebels in Syria. Authorities say the number of Salafists in North Rhine-Westphalia has doubled within a year to 1,000 men, including about 100 who are trained jihadists. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) estimates that 900 people with "Islamist-terrorist potential" are in Germany, including 250 who have completed paramilitary training abroad.
The government approved the deployment of some 330 troops to Mali; up to 180 of them will participate in the European Union training mission. Two Iranian men were charged in Frankfurt state court with smuggling dozens of German-made motors to Iran for its Ababil III drone, which is used for both surveillance and attacks.
German intelligence confirmed that Abu Azzam, a German believed to be a radical Salafist who moved to Egypt last year, posted a video threatening to kill Chancellor Merkel and blow up the Reichstag. The jihadist's threats were made in the name of Osama bin Laden and also included a threat to US President Obama.
The government is planning to deploy armed drones in foreign conflicts. So far, Germany has used only unarmed drones in conflict areas such as Afghanistan. Armed drones would give Germany the ability to "confront opposing forces with a permanent and unpredictable threat that would limit their ability to act."
The Foreign Ministry said Germany would provide cargo planes and medical personnel to assist France in the military intervention in Mali, but ruled out deploying troops. Germany remains involved in European Union planning for a military training mission in Mali.
Jihadist rapper Denis Cuspert of the banned terrorist group Millatu Ibrahim released a chant via the Global Islamic Media Front urging support for jihadists in Chechnya and noting that Chechens are fighting in Syria, Iraq, and "everywhere." An Indian man in Bonn was allegedly attacked by two Islamists who tried to cut out his tongue after demanding that he convert to Islam.
The banned group Millatu Ibrahim issued two German-language chants by Salafist rapper Denis Mamdou Cuspert through the Global Islamic Media Front. One chant, subtitled in English, calls for jihad throughout the world, including "Londonistan, Germanistan," Rome, and Jerusalem; the other praises an imprisoned German Islamist and urges the kidnapping German citizens.
Omar D., a Somali Salafist, remains the key suspect in last week's attempted bombing at the Bonn central train station; he and another Somali, Abdirazak B., who is linked to Shabaab, were arrested but soon released. Police agencies are bickering over the fact that video camera footage at the Bonn station was not recorded.
Federal authorities now say that the pipe bomb found at the Bonn central train station on Monday was placed by a suspect with radical Islamist links. The Interior Ministry warned of an increased risk of attacks on Christmas markets.
After a bag containing pipe bomb elements was found on a platform at Bonn's central train station on Monday, police arrested two Somali men, Abdirazak B. and Omar D., known extremists already under surveillance. The pair were later released; police are now looking for other suspects.
A new government report on Afghanistan says that "hostile forces remain operational," little progress has been made toward peace and stability, national reconciliation has not succeeded, and insider attacks are an increasing concern. Germany plans to spend $558 million per year until 2016 to improve Afghan living conditions and governance, and an additional $194 million for Afghan security forces.
Jihadist rapper Denis Mamdou Cuspert, a.k.a. Deso Dogg and Abu Talha al-Almani, released a video jointly with Millatu Ibrahim and the Global Islamic Media Front calling for Germans to emigrate and join the jihad. "We raise the black flags and ride to the battle
to Jerusalem to free our holy city," he said. A number of German Salafists have emigrated to Egypt since Millatu Ibrahim was outlawed in Germany this spring.
The banned German Salafist group Millatu Ibrahim issued a statement on jihadist forums announcing its shift from preaching to jihad, and praising two women as its "first martyrs." The women died in a car accident on Eid al-Adha after emigrating from Germany with their husbands and "many brothers and sisters" to "the land of jihad and martyrdom." Leading members of the group moved to Egypt earlier this year.
