A new video, in which two German Islamists call for suicide attacks in their country, has surfaced on the Internet, the government said on Thursday.
The message shows two men clad in combat gear, identified as the brothers Mounir and Yassim C. -- aged 27 and 24 -- from the western city of Bonn but of Moroccan origin, a government spokesman told AFP.
According to the spokesman, the pair call for suicide attacks to be carried out on German soil, adding: "Opt for life after death ... there is no peace," confirming earlier reports in mass circulation daily Bild.
The men are believed to belong to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IBU) and the footage was probably filmed somewhere along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the spokesman said.
Authorities have been aware of the video since the end of February and have confirmed its authenticity.
Earlier this year, Germany was shaken by a 30-minute Internet video message in which a man calling himself Abu Talha Al-Alamani, said the Germans were "gullible and naive" if they thought they could "escape unscathed when they are the third occupation force in Afghanistan."
At the time, the interior ministry reacted by releasing a statement, saying that "Germany is being named more and more in warnings published on the Internet" and that the terrorist threat had "reached a new dimension."
{{/usCountry}}At the time, the interior ministry reacted by releasing a statement, saying that "Germany is being named more and more in warnings published on the Internet" and that the terrorist threat had "reached a new dimension."
{{/usCountry}}Germany has about 3,300 soldiers in the relatively safe north of Afghanistan as part of NATO's 50,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), but Berlin decided last year to increase its contingent to 4,500 troops.