Islamic extremists accused of plotting to kill Iraq’s prime minister in Germany are smuggling battle-hardened fighters from Iraq to Europe, raising a potential new terrorist threat on the continent, according to German officials.
More than 20 alleged supporters of Ansar al-Islam have been arrested in Europe in the past year as authorities move against the group that has links with al-Qaida and Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been leading bloody attacks against US forces and their Iraqi allies in Iraq.
About 100 Ansar al-Islam supporters are in Germany alone, officials say. Mullah Krekar, the group’s spiritual head, has lived for years as a refugee in Norway, and investigators believe that the group has also recruited volunteers in Italy and Britain. Estimates of its total membership range between about 500 and 1,000.
Ansar al-Islam is suspected of spiriting dozens of fired-up young Muslims to Iraq to join the insurgency, but the latest raids in Germany – the most spectacular yet against the group – have heightened concerns that the organisation also could pose a menace outside Iraq, too.
Acting on intelligence suggesting the group planned to attack Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in Berlin, police on December 3 arrested three Iraqis believed to be Ansar al-Islam members.
A top security official in Hamburg, Heino Vahldieck, said German authorities were right to strike quickly despite what appears to be the lack of hard evidence. Prosecutors are preparing charges of belonging to a terrorist group against the three men.
“You can wind up waiting too long once too often,” Vahldieck told The Associated Press.
Germany’s pre-emptive action to protect Allawi contrasts with the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, Spain, and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the US: A key Madrid suspect had been under surveillance long before, and three of the four September 11 suicide pilots – including lead hijacker Mohamed Atta – lived and studied in Hamburg undetected by authorities.
Europe’s openness to refugees and civil-rights guarantees often makes it hard for authorities to crack down on terror suspects. But they have stepped up pressure on Ansar al-Islam over the past year, leading to a string of arrests in Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Sweden.