(Berlin) At least 820 Islamists have left Germany to join
jihadists inside Syria and Iraq, according
to the German domestic security agency (BfV) , which has voiced concerns about
the rapid radicalization of minors after two recent attacks .
Police in April
arrested two 16-year-olds over an explosion that wounded three people at a Sikh
temple, in what was believed to be an Islamist motivated attack against an
Indian wedding party at a temple in the western city of Essen.
In the other attack,a 15-year-old girl stabbed a policeman in the neck in Hanover in February.
German prosecutors said she was carrying out an operation for the Islamic State
jihadist group.
The BfV has sought authorization to collect and store
personal data about under-16s who are suspected of extremism. Among the 820 who
have left Germany, about a third have returned while about 140 have been killed
in Syria or Iraq. The intelligence agency last September said 740 Islamists had
travelled to the conflict zones.
