German authorities investigate 59 refugees on suspicion of terrorist links

Germany's interior ministry said Monday that authorities are conducting 59 investigations of refugees and asylum seekers suspected of possible links to terrorist organizations.

Tobias Plate, a spokesman for the ministry, said in a press conference that none of those investigated was involved in the recent violent attacks on German soil.

He called for caution before prematurely linking Sunday's suicide bombing in Ansbach (southern Germany) to jihadist terrorism.

• Plate said police usually receive tips from the refugees' immediate surroundings, such as roommates in asylum homes and refugee centers, and have currently obtained information regarding 400 possible suspects.

He added that it was "difficult" to determine at what point those suspects became radicalized, as it could have been before entering the country or afterwards.

Plate said over 500 people were being surveilled, as they potentially belonged to Islamist circles, and described another 360 as "relevant persons of interest."

He also said it was "too early" to decide if the 27-year-old Syrian refugee who killed himself in Ansbach and wounded 12 people had committed a religiously-motivated crime against State security.
 EFE
25/7/16
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