Referring to Germany’s involvement in international coalition operations in Afghanistan, six masked men claiming to be members of the Islamic Jihad Union in a video posted on the Internet say the group has prepared a “few surprise gifts for the occupation forces.” “The allies of the occupation powers must still reckon with our attacks,” the message continues, according to Germany’s ARD television.
Germany has some 3,300 troops stationed in Afghanistan’s relatively safe northern areas as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
The video, apparently recorded in the middle of Israel’s recent 22-day incursion into Gaza, also accuses German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the United States of failing to take action to stop that military operation. It is the second threatening video directed at Germany in recent weeks. The first, attributed to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), featured a German-speaking man warning that Germany would not escape unscathed for its role as the third-largest troop supplier in Afghanistan. The video attributed to the Islamic Jihad Union, which is widely believed to have ties to the IMU, featured segments in multiple languages, including Turkish, Azeri, Russian, Kurdish, and German.
