Germany Raises Terror Alert Three Months Before Election

Germany's election is in three months but threats of terrorist attacks against the country have been increasing for the past several months. German military presence in Afghanistan is though to be the key motive.

In three months, Germany will be holding a national general election. But the German government is on high alert after finding online threats of terrorist attacks against the country. The German government held talks with top intelligence and security officials, agents and chiefs in Berlin to discuss the threat of Islamic extremism and counter-terrorism. Over thirteen videos have been detected since January and mostly are in reference to German troops present in Afghanistan. The Deputy Interior Minister August Hanning told reporters, “We’re not concerned about these video messages. They’re a wider strategy to action against Germany. Germany and German citizens have for some time been a special focus for Islamist terrorists. We have to prepare for the fact there could be attacks against German installations abroad or here in Germany.” According to intelligence authorities, many Islamic extremists are leaving Germany in order to train in Pakistan where training camps operate inside the nation. However, conflicting reports show that many terrorists are leaving Pakistan in order to carry out attacks in European countries and possibly even Germany. Germany’s military support in Afghanistan has been the subject of controversial debate for many years. The country’s military, which is usually for peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts, has now been in combat due to the increase in violence against them and coalition forces. The war in Afghanistan has cost the lives of 35 German soldiers. In a recent poll conducted by Forsa Institute found that 61% of Germans disapprove of the war and want their soldiers out of there. Nevertheless Defense Minister Franz Josef Lung said, “We're in Afghanistan because we have to protect the security of German citizens in Germany. At the present moment, Germany has 4,000 serving in the NATO-led international force. On Thursday, the lower Parliament voted to approve the authorization to deploy an extra 200 troops into Afghanistan. The limit mandate, put forth by Germany’s Parliament, is 4,500.