Madrid/London style attack in the works for Germany?

German fears over al Qaeda actvity

From CNN's Berlin correspondent Frederik Pleitgen

Story Highlights

- Al Qaeda has begun an online propaganda blitz on German-speaking Muslims
- Jihadist videos issue calls to join "Holy War", others show bomb-making workshops
- Three men arrested in Germany summer 2006 for alleged bomb plot on Americans
- German government says worried but no evidence of an imminent attack

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Al Qaeda has begun an online propaganda campaign, targeting German-speaking Muslims with increasing amounts of terror-related content, German security officials have told CNN.

And while there is no evidence of specific plans against Germany and Austria,German State Secretary of the Interior August Hanning has said he is worried that the authorities "will not be able to thwart all terror plots in the future."

Jihadist videos obtained by CNN, and narrated and subtitled in German, call on German-speaking Muslims to join the "Holy War" against what they call an "American led coalition against Islam that Germany and Austria are a part of."CNN has also seen excerpts of what German intelligence officials say is a 16-hour long, professionally produced bomb-making tutorial. Watch report on the terror videos.

While the video is narrated in Arabic, German officials say it is so well produced that even non-Arabic speakers can understand it. The tutorial instructs viewers in the production of various forms of homemade explosives; German officials say these bombs, if produced according to the instructions, would work and could be potentially devastating.

Last summer three men were arrested in Germany for allegedly plotting bomb attacks against Americans resident in the country. Two of the men were German converts to Islam and one was a Turk living in Germany.

The German Interior Ministry has said since that it is worried al Qaeda might be preparing to make attacks in Germany, although it does not want to create panic and believes there is no evidence of an imminent outrage.Germany has so far escaped the type of large-scale al Qaeda terror attack that has hit other parts of Europe such as Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.

Terrorism expert Guido Steinberg, from the Berlin-based Center for Research and Politics, told CNN al Qaeda seemed to think that attacks on German soil could provoke Berlin to withdraw its 3,000 soldiers from northern Afghanistan.

"Al Qaeda has identified Germany as one of the weakest links in Afghanistan," Steinberg says.

Snop's Commentary:

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In the 17 Dec 07 Post "Is the BattleField Moving to Europe" Walid Phares makes the observation that Al Qaeda is "preparing the psychological terrain for an escalation on European soil". The Washington Times carried his OpEd article titled Osama Targets Europe on the 6th of Dec 07. Its worth a read because it makes the case for a shift in Al Qaeda's efforts from Iraq to mainland Europe.

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It is also worth repeating the following comments from the 17th...

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"From a Cognetic point of view, Bin Laden is setting the stage to pit the strength of media amplified violence against a weakening Europe. A Europe that lacks a central unifying principle or ideology needed to counteract the determined Salafist's and their bloody interpretation of Islam.

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Osama wants to peal back the onion and pit Europe against America, European nations against one another and the islands of Muslim angst against a sea of secular indifference throughout the continent. See Dawn of the Cognetic Age: Looking through the lens page 104 and Bin Laden Attempting to Strip US Allies from the Anti-Terrorism Coalition."