Germany identifies hundreds of violence-ready Islamists and thousands of radicals

Germany's domestic intelligence agency reports that the country is home to hundreds of Islamists prepared to use violence, along with thousands of radicalized individuals who pose a potential security threat.

According to the agency, a total of 28,645 Islamists were under surveillance in 2024. Of these, 9,110 people were classified as inclined toward violence, ready to use it, or actively promoting violent methods.

The intelligence service gathers data from the internet and social media, analyzes Islamist networks, and is authorized to monitor suspicious individuals — including wiretapping phone calls and intercepting correspondence. When concrete evidence of illegal activity is found, the information is passed on to police and other law enforcement bodies.

The scale of the problem is starkly illustrated by figures for Berlin. According to the intelligence agency, the German capital is home to nearly 2,600 Islamists, more than 900 of whom are supporters of violence. The largest groups are radical Salafists prone to violence (350 people) and supporters of the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah (500 people). Exact figures on the number of Islamic State followers in the city are not available.

A telling example is the case of 21-year-old Abdul Ballout, the attacker who on Saturday drove a car into a crowd in central Berlin. According to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, he had partly been under surveillance by security services, and his phone had been tapped. Law enforcement agencies had previously described him as a radicalized individual prepared to commit violence. Focus magazine reports that he had been ordered to undergo a deradicalization program.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz