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30-50 al-Qaeda trainees in Germany
A top security official estimates that there are 30 to 50 Islamic elements in Germany who have received training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, the magazine Focus reported. In its latest issue to appear on newsstands on Monday, the weekly said that Joerg Ziercke, president of the Federal Crime Office BKA in Wiesbaden, cited this number in a report to the German parliament's interior committee. Focus quoted Ziercke as having told the committee that the persons posed ''potential danger'' to Germany. But he said proof of training at a camp in Afghanistan was not sufficient grounds for security authorities to act against the al- Qaeda suspects. The Interior Minister of the southern state of Bavaria, Guenther Beckstein, has been demanding that proof of such training made an expulsion from the country urgently necessary. Focus said security officials were not clear as to how many terrorism-prone Islamic elements were in Germany altogether. It cited federal constitution protection authorities as estimating there were 300 who could be classified as being a ''danger''. Officials were also not clear whether al-Qaeda centrally plans attacks such as the terror bombings of a commuter train in Madrid last March. In addition to the al-Qaeda organisation itself, there were ''exclusively regionally operating groups'', the BKA believes. In Wiesbaden, the BKA on Saturday said it could not confirm the Focus report. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-08-15 |
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