BERLIN, Germany – A second al-Qaida video featuring a German speaker has surfaced online, but it does not contain specific threats against the country, Germany’s Interior Ministry said Sunday.
The speaker on the video is most likely Bekkay Harrach, who uses the pseudonym Abu Talha, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said.
The spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy, said that German intelligence services are evaluating the authenticity of the video.
On Friday, al-Qaida posted a video with Harrach issuing a threat in connection with Germany’s troop presence in Afghanistan – prompting authorities to step-up security a week ahead of national elections next weekend.
Sunday’s video shows a still image of a masked man under the German title “O Allah, I love you.” An 39-minute audio message in German, presumably spoken by Hallach, talks about jihad and the issue of sin in Islam. The message also mentions Afghanistan.
The ministry said Friday that the earlier video underlines the fact the Sept. 27 elections offer “a particular background for propaganda and operational actions by terrorist groups.”
It said that authorities believe there is an “increased threat situation” to which they are responding with “adjusted security measures in particular at airports and stations.”
Friday’s video, provided by the site Intelligence Group, showed Harrach warning that, if Germans do not push their political parties to withdraw the country’s soldiers from Afghanistan, “there will be a rude awakening after the elections.”
Authorities have said Harrach, a German of Moroccan background, is believed to have lived for many years in Bonn and now could be in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.
Germany has more than 4,200 soldiers in Afghanistan. The deployment is unpopular, but has not been a significant issue in the election campaign.
