German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has warned on Tuesday that her country remains a target for “Islamist terrorists”, following the cancellation of three concerts by US pop star Taylor Swift in Austria.
At a meeting with Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, in the western city of Cologne, Faeser said the security assessment is still in place.
She spoke of a “serious Islamist threat” that has been observed in Vienna.
ISIS – Khorasan Province
“Our country is also the focus of extremist organizations, particularly ISIS and one of its currently most dangerous offshoot ISIS– Khorasan Province,” said Faeser, a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
“Islamist terrorist organizations and also lone Islamist perpetrators who radicalize largely on their own, are a constant danger", she added.
"It is clear that we will not allow ourselves to be intimidated. But we take threats very seriously".
Authorities in Austria said they thwarted a terror plan to attack now-canceled Swift’s concerts in the past week.
Faeser affirmed that since Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, and the start of the war in Gaza, the security situation has deteriorated dramatically.
She said the risk of escalation in the Middle East due to a possible Iranian attack on Israel was “extremely dangerous.”
The Minister noted that security authorities have taken all protective measures against the threats posed by extremists and that several suspects have been arrested.
