'Extremists plan German attacks'

2008-08-10 23:16

Berlin - Islamic extremists who trained at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan may be plotting attacks in Germany, the head of the country's federal crime office said, according to a newspaper interview released on Sunday.

Jörg Ziercke, head of the Bundeskriminalamt - Germany's FBI equivalent - told the daily Tagesspiegel that about 50 aspiring militants from Germany have been trained in camps run by al-Qaeda, the Taliban or the Islamic Jihad Union.

"In light of statements from al-Qaeda and (the Islamic Jihad Union) we are certain that a decision has been made to conduct attacks in Germany," Ziercke was quoted as saying in the interview, to appear in the newspaper's Monday edition.

An advance copy of the interview was released on Sunday.

Ziercke said a small number of the newly trained militants had already returned to Germany.

He said the returned militants are among about 100 suspected extremists under investigation by the federal crime office and represent a portion of the agency's 200 ongoing terrorism investigations.

Ziercke said the camps also share connections to an al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Jihad Union cell accused of plotting to attack US and other facilities in Germany last September.

- AP