Germany: Jihadists posing as refugees

The Islamic State is using wave of migrants to infiltrate Europe, officials say.

— An Algerian couple, suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Berlin and arrested on suspicion of belonging to the Islamic State, entered Germany late last year and applied for asylum as Syrian refugees — part of a pattern of terrorism suspects entering Europe under the guise of fleeing war, German authorities said Friday.

Police in Berlin published a photo they said was of the husband, showing a bearded man with his face blacked out, pointing a pistol at the camera, with two Kalashnikov riflfle s propped up beside him on a sofa strewn with other weapons. The photo was believed to have been taken in Syria, where German media reports said the man had received terrorist training with the Islamic State.

The man, not named by police but identifified by the media as Farid A., 34, and his wife, 27, had been under surveillance at their refugee shelter in the town of Attendorn and were arrested in coordinated raids Thursday. They were suspected of plotting an attack in Berlin, the police said Friday.

As many as 1 million asylum-seekers entered Germany last year. An warm welcome soured after the Paris terrorist attacks; police found documents suggesting that some assailants had entered Europe posing as refugees.

Hundreds of assaults and robberies during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne, attributed to young men of Arab or North African backgrounds, further heightened fears.

On Friday, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, said the Islamic State was using the wave of newcomers to infiltrate Europe.

Authorities in Europe have “seen repeatedly that terrorists are being smuggled in, camouflaged as refugees,” Maassen said.