Terror video threatens Germany

German authorities are evaluating a purported al-Qaida video in which a speaker appears to threaten Germany over its military presence in Afghanistan.

The SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based organisation that monitors militant web sites, says al-Qaida’s media production house, al-Sahab, released the message today – dated October 2008.

The video features a man calling himself “Abu Talha the German”. He notes in German that Germany – which has more than 3,300 soldiers in Afghanistan – is the largest provider of troops there after the US and Britain.

He says that “if the Germans ... gullibly and naively think that they can get away scot-free as the third-biggest troop provider, then German politicians are out of place in parliament”.