German paper hit by arsonists

A Hamburg daily that reprinted satirical cartoons from French newspaper Charlie Hebdo was hit by arsonists at the weekend, raising security concerns in Germany on the eve of a planned mass rally against Islam in the city of Dresden.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere warned: “I am very concerned about well-prepared perpetrators like those in Paris, Brussels, Australia or Canada.”

There were about 260 people in Germany regarded as dangerous Islamists, he said.

Bild am Sonntag said US intelligence agencies had tapped conversations of senior Islamic State (IS) members in which they said the Paris attacks were the start of a series in Europe.

In Hamburg, two people were arrested after an incendiary device was thrown into a building of the Hamburger Morgenpost daily, setting some documents on fire, a police spokeswoman said.

The Morgenpost had reprinted cartoons from Charlie Hebdo in a show of solidarity.The Hamburg newspaper said there were no people in the building at the time of the attack.

Elsewhere, German police arrested a suspected supporter of the Islamic State in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The 24-year-old German is suspected of having joined IS during a stay in Syria from October 2013 until November 2014.