Islamist terrorism

The threat from Islamist terrorists presents a constant challenge for the law enforcement authorities. Germany also remains a target for radical Islamists.

Numerous attacks and assassinations have been prevented in recent years, but the work is not always successful. On 19 December 2016, for example, a lone perpetrator committed an attack on the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 55, some seriously.

The field of Islamist terrorism has changed significantly over the decades, in terms of both the number of investigations and the estimated threat level. The Office of the Federal Prosecutor has adapted to these changes in a targeted way.

The law enforcement authorities first identified an Islamist terrorist cell in Germany in 2000. Its members were making specific preparations for a bomb attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg. The law enforcement authorities intervened in good time and all members of the terrorist cell were given long jail sentences.

The terror attacks of 11 September 2001 in the USA demonstrated the dimensions that Islamist terrorist attacks can take. Some of the preparations took place in Germany. A direct assistant to the attackers was given a prison sentence of many years. As a result, fighting Islamist terrorism became a core task of the Office of the Federal Prosecutor.

Together with the security authorities, a serious bomb attack was successfully prevented in 2007. The members of the “Sauerland Group” had already begun building their bombs. The investigation and law enforcement authorities succeeded in replacing a substance needed to build the bomb early and taking the terrorists into custody. The members of the Sauerland Group were given long jail sentences.

However, terrorists and their planned attacks cannot always be picked up on time. In 2006, it was only a construction error in the bombs that prevented an attack on two regional trains in the Bonn/Koblenz area. The two Islamist perpetrators were arrested and sentenced. Another construction error also prevented an attack in 2012, when a pipe bomb placed in Bonn’s central station failed to explode. In this case, too, the Islamist terrorist was arrested and sentenced. The Christmas market attack in Berlin in December 2016 killed 12 people and injured many more. Four days later, the driver of the truck used in the attack was stopped by the Italian police during a police check near Milan. He was killed in the exchange of fire that followed.

Today, Germany is confronted with various threat scenarios resulting from Islamist terrorism. The spectrum ranges from individually radicalised perpetrators to terrorist cells involved in large-scale conspiracies. Together with the security authorities, the Office of the Federal Prosecutor faces this constantly changing threat situation.

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