Islamist infiltrators exposed in German army – reports

                                       

The German military has uncovered dozens of soldiers with Islamist leanings that joined the army to receive rigorous training in weapons systems and tactics in hopes of using it for future terror attacks, both at home and abroad, local media report.

Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service, MAD, has identified 20 active-duty soldiers as Islamists, and 60 others were put on a surveillance list for having extremist views, Die Welt reported on Saturday.

The agency said the Islamist infiltrators are particularly interested in advanced weapons and tactical training that could be useful when carrying out future attacks in Germany or abroad.

Recruitment offices across the country have reported “individual inquiries from applicants who are eager to join the Bundeswehr [the German military] for only a few months and are explicitly interested in intensive weapons and equipment training,” MAD noted.

During ‘Grundausbildung,’ Germany’s army boot camp training, recruits are taught shooting and marksmanship skills, map reading and topography, and the fundamentals of woodland and urban warfare, as well as how to give emergency aid.