(By Zeke Turner, The Wall Street Journal) BERLIN—Seventeen operatives of Islamic State have entered Germany disguised as refugees, according to evidence collected by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
Most of the group are in prison or dead, Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said Saturday in an interview with daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The agency, he said, has tracked more than 320 attempted contacts between Islamists and refugees in the country.
“The biggest threat in Germany is Islamist terrorism,” Mr. Maassen said. An attack similar to the one Tuesday that left 44 dead at Istanbul Atatürk Airport couldn’t be ruled out in Germany, he added.
Since more than 1.2 million immigrants began arriving in Germany last year, many of them crossing from Turkey into Europe without documents or thorough identity checks, the country has been living with a heightened risk of a terror attack.
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