Germany flags wartime immigration from Ukraine as terror threat

Germany's intelligence agency has flagged the jihadist threat posed by the followers of Afghanistan-based Islamic State offshoot and related domestic extremism in Germany. The report by BfV comes amid growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany, reflected most recently in the surge of far-right parties during the European Union parliamentary elections.

It estimated the strength of global jihadist organisations at 27,200.

The group, designated ISPK by the German intelligence service, "has managed to bring followers to Western Europe, possibly with the wave of refugees from Ukraine, who are now staying here in various Western European countries," Director General Thomas Haldenwang told the media on Tuesday (June 18).

The senior official of German intelligence agency BfV and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser presented an annual report on the intelligence operations, including a July 2023 operation that involved a series of arrests in Germany and the Netherlands.

The German authorities had arrested a total of nine people hailing from Central Asia, seven amongst whom lived in Germany. They are accused of founding a "domestic terrorist group" and preparing major attacks on European soil.

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The group was allegedly in contact with ISPK, also known as ISIS-K, and had entered the European Union from Ukraine “almost simultaneously,” according to German security officials. The suspects were described as “black sheep” among Ukrainians when the arrests happened.

The Afghanistan-based offshoot of the Islamic Statehas a large number of supporters and calls for "major attacks", the German intelligence chief said.

Russia believes that Ukrainian intelligence services had facilitated the Crocus City Hall attack outside Moscow, which left over 145 people dead in March 2024. But it is deemed possible that the ISPK could have simply given its brand name to the plot which helped the real kingpins of the terrorist plot to recruit the terrorists for the attack.

The 400-page-long report by the BfV covers a wide spectrum of threats such as domestic extremism and foreign espionage.

(With inputs from agencies)