A German intelligence official said Thursday that “hit squads” from the Islamic State terror group have infiltrated the country disguised as asylum seekers.
“We have to accept that we have hit squads and sleeper cells in Germany,” Manfred Hauser, the vice president of Bavaria’s domestic intelligence agency, BayLfV, told the BBC’s “Today” radio program, Politico reported.
“We have substantial reports that among the refugees there are hit squads. There are hundreds of these reports, some from refugees themselves,” he said. “We are still following up on these, and we haven’t investigated all of them fully.”
Mr. Hauser added: “We have irrefutable evidence that there is an [Islamic State] command structure that makes an attack in Germany very likely.”
Bavaria has been the main gateway for asylum seekers fleeing conflict in the Middle East, Politico reported. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Thursday unveiled proposals to boost security following the recent spate of attacks, two of which were carried out by asylum seekers.
Mr. Maiziere’s plans included making it easier to deport foreigners deemed dangerous and stripping dual nationals who fight for extremist groups of their German citizenship. He also wanted to make “promoting terrorism” a criminal offense, The Associated Press reported.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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