BERLIN HAS played down US warnings that Germany, France and other European countries face an unspecified terrorism threat.
Sources quoted by US channel Fox News confirming such a threat were, according to one government source in Berlin, “not trustworthy”.
“There is no reason for alarm,” said interior minister Thomas de Maizière yesterday, while admitting there was “an increased, abstract level of danger”.
According to unnamed sources quoted by Fox, terrorists were planning attacks on the Hotel Adlon, adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate, and the new central station. In a statement, the interior ministry said: “There are no concrete clues that an attack in Germany is imminent.”
The ministry said it was informed of the plan to issue the travel advisory – which it reminded is not a warning – and insisted this was linked to dangers already cited in the mass media last week.
“The government sees no reason to change the concrete danger assessment.”
Focusmagazine quoted a German government source, who also declined to be named, as saying: "Trust sources that are open about their identity instead."
Last week the Wall Street Journalreported that the US secret service had foiled simultaneous terrorist attacks in Germany, Britain and France, planned for later this year.
Information on the al-Qaeda plans reportedly came to light through the capture last July and subsequent interrogation of a German-Afghan man, Ahmed Siddiqui.
He has reportedly admitted belonging to an Islamist group in Hamburg, where the 9/11 bombings were planned, and has reportedly named those involved in the alleged plot. All of the alleged plotters trained in Pakistan: some were Arabs, he reportedly said, while some had German or Chechen citizenship.
Berlin’s requests for a German diplomat to meet Mr Siddiqui in Kabul have so far been unsuccessful.
