German police have arrested a married couple suspected of having planned a terrorist attack and have seized an assault rifle, ammunition and a pipe bomb in their home, Die Welt daily reported Thursday.
EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová told French newspaper Le Figaro on Monday that Europeans who have gone to join jihadist Isis fighters in Syria may number more than 6,000.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière ordered the dissolving of salafist organisation Tauhid Germany on Thursday, saying that the group radicalized youth and encouraged them to travel to Syria to fight for Isis.
So far about 650 people have travelled from Germany to the war zones in Iraq and Syria to fight for Isis, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said on Thursday evening.
A draft law from the Justice Ministry shows that the government plans to criminalize people who leave or attempt to leave Germany to join terrorist groups such as Isis.
State prosecutors are investigating at least one man, a veteran of fighting with Isis in western Iraq, for planning attacks in Germany as part of a 50-strong cell of jihadist sympathisers.
The cabinet agreed on Wednesday to push for a new law aimed at stopping people from leaving Germany to fight for Islamist movements in the Middle East.
A leaked government report shows that security authorities believe the threat of a terrorist attack in Germany is higher than at any time since the late 1970s.
Germany on Friday announced new measures to prevent its citizens from travelling to join the jihadist cause in Iraq and Syria, including confiscating their identity papers.
A Munich man and woman have been arrested in Austria on charges of joining jihadist groups fighting in Syria, where they had travelled with the woman's young son, officials said on Thursday.
Germany and France on Thursday pressed for urgent reforms to the European Union's visa-free Schengen travel zone to counter the increasing number of Europeans leaving to wage jihad in Iraq and Syria.
A radical Islamist jihadist platform hosting death threats against Chancellor Angela Merkel and calls to attack Germany has been taken down by a blogging site for breach of terms, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Former Berlin rapper Deso Dogg, who quit music to become a radical Islamic preacher, is facing weapons charges after police raided his home and found ammunition.
