August Hanning, the Secretary of State of Germany and former head of the country's BND intelligence service, was quoted by Agence France Presse as saying that 140 German residents have been trained in terrorist camps along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Between 60 and 80 of those trained are believed to have returned to Germany.

"On top of that there are about another 300 potentially dangerous Islamists. All in all we are talking about a circle of around 1,000 people," Hanning said.

He also said that about 100 people in Germany have been classified as "dangerous."

In late April, four German converts to Islam went on trial for planning car bomb attacks on Americans.   They belonged to a terrorist group called the Islamic Jihad Union.

"'Their motive was bottomless hatred toward Americans who they regarded at the greatest enemies of Islam," their indictment stated.

On July 31, 2006, a terrorist plot to detonate bombs hidden in suitcase on trains in Germany failed due to a mechanical error.

Spiegel Online also reports that intelligence officials are concerned that Al-Qaeda will try to launch an attack on Germany around the time of the presidential elections scheduled for May 23.