Qaeda threatens Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters/AFP) - German police said on Friday they had arrested a 25-year-old Turkish man they suspected of posting an Al-Qaeda Internet video threatening Germany with an attack after Sundays federal election. Police in the southern city of Stuttgart said the man was not believed to have been involved in producing the video, in which an Al-Qaeda member threatened Germany with a rude awakening if Berlin did not end its war in Afghanistan. They said it was not clear where the suspect, arrested on Thursday, obtained the material. The third German-language video in a week by an Al-Qaeda militant has surfaced in what the German government said Friday marked an abstract threat against the country. The video, entitled O Allah I Love You 2 and posted Thursday, was the latest by Al-Qaeda operative Abu Talha al-Almani, or The German and came days after he threatened attacks in Germany over its military mission in Afghanistan. In it, Abu Talha calls for devout Muslims to join in a holy war. Jihad is a project that must be realised, he says in German. My own success is not a condition for taking part in jihad. I can achieve my goal, but I may also end up in Guantanamo. I must be willing to accept whatever comes, in Allahs name. To the unbelievers I say: I have had enough patience. US monitoring group IntelCentre, which released the videos, said the threat of attack by Al-Qaeda or its affiliates in Germany or against German interests worldwide (is) at a significantly high level based on assessment of Abu Talhas latest statement when taken in the context of his two other statements. The threat will be high for the lead-up to elections on September 27 and remain so following the elections, it said. A German interior ministry spokesman said the latest video contained no new direct threats against Germany but spoke of an abstract threat and said authorities were still examining its content.

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