German state taking anti- terror steps

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged Thursday to do “everything humanly possible” to keep Germany safe after a string of attacks — including two carried out by asylum seekers and claimed by the Islamic State extremist group that she said mocked the country that took in the assailants.

The attacks renewed criticism of Merkel for her decision last year to welcome refugees. More than 1 million asylum seekers were registered in Germany in 2015, although the influx has since slowed.

Merkel said at a news conference that Germany will “stick to our principles” and give shelter to those who deserve it.

“We will manage this,” she said, repeating a mantra she coined last August.

Merkel called for a better “early warning system” against signs of radicalization, faster progress on plans to create a center to help crack encrypted messages and better international intelligence cooperation, among other measures. But she said it’s too early to say in detail what more may be required beyond the tightening of asylum and security laws already undertaken in recent months.

“Wherever there are gaps, we will have to act — just as we have so far — so that it is clear that we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure security in our free, democratic state of law,” Merkel said.

Two of the attacks in a weeklong period starting July 18 — an ax rampage near Wuerzburg that wounded five and a suicide bombing that injured 15 outside a bar in Ansbach — were the first in Germany to be

claimed by the Islamic State. Both attackers, asylum seekers who arrived over the past two years, were killed.

“We will do everything to clear up the barbaric acts, find the people behind them and punish them, and then we will have to decide where further measures are necessary,” Merkel said. She added that Germany owes that to the victims, their relatives, its own security and also “to all the many innocent refugees.”

Earlier Thursday, officials in Bavaria state pledged to hire hundreds of extra police officers and urged tougher background checks on asylum seekers as they presented an anti- terror plan after the four attacks.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said his state would hire 2,000 more police officers by 2020, improve police officers’ equipment and create new offices to fight Muslim extremism and cybercrime.