Secret ISIS ‘hit squads’ are hiding among migrants and pretending to be refugees, German intelligence experts warn
Bavaria's spy agency says it has 'irrefutable' evidence that command structures are being used - making another coordinated ISIS attack 'likely'
ISIS hit squads and "sleeper cells" intent on waging war on Europe have entered Germany disguised as refugees, a leading spy chief has confirmed.
Intelligence agencies also have "irrefutable" evidence they are following a command structure, meaning a coordinated attack like those seen in Paris and Brussels is "likely".
This was the chilling warning issued by the deputy head of Bavaria's spy agency, Manfred Hauser, on the BBC's programme this week.
He said: "We have substantial reports that among the refugees there are hit squads. There are hundreds of these reports, some from refugees themselves.
"We are still following up on these, and we haven’t investigated all of them fully. We have to accept that we have hit squads and sleeper cells in Germany.
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"We are still following up on these, and we haven’t investigated all of them fully. We have to accept that we have hit squads and sleeper cells in Germany."
His dire warning comes after two attacks by migrants in the southern state of Bavaria last month - an axe rampage on a train in Wuerzburg and a suicide bombing in Ansbach.
In Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old attacker was shot dead by police after injuring five people. In Ansbach, 15 people were injured after a failed Syrian asylum seeker detonated an explosive device outside a music festival, killing himself.
However, Germany is yet to be struck by coordinated ISIS attack, seen in Paris and Brussels recently.
Both cities were subjected to bombings carried out by ISIS operatives that were planned and launched from the Middle East.
In a bid to combat the growing threat, Germany's Interior Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, yesterday unveiled a slew of new anti-terror measures.
Among them was a controversial proposal to strip jihadist fighters of their Germany nationality.
De Maiziere said: "Germans who participate in fighting abroad for a terror militia and who have another citizenship should lose their German nationality."
Around 820 people have left Germany to fight alongside jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq, according to estimates by German secret services.
With about one in three fighters having since returned to Germany, fears are running high of the threat they may pose on European soil.
Other measures - yet to be voted into law by Parliament - include speeding up the deportation of convicted migrant criminals and a "four digit increase" in police jobs onto of an already promised 4,600 new posts.
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