FRANKFURT — Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced Saturday that the country is raising its security status from an “abstract threat level” to a “high threat level,” citing an increase in intelligence reports pointing to potential dangers.
Speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Dobrindt warned that the threat of attacks must now be considered a constant reality. “This means that the risk of attacks must be reckoned with at all times in Germany,” he was quoted as saying.
The minister made clear that the danger is not vague or distant. “Plans for attacks against our country are clearly discernible,” he added, pointing to threats directed at German infrastructure, individuals, and institutions.
Germany’s Interior Ministry had not responded to requests for additional information at the time of publication.
The announcement comes after a string of violent incidents in Germany in recent years. Last month, a Saudi doctor was sentenced to life in prison for a deadly attack in the eastern city of Magdeburg, where he drove a rented BMW into crowds at a historic market just days before Christmas in 2024, killing six people and injuring hundreds more.
In a separate case, a German court last year convicted a Syrian citizen for carrying out an Islamic State-inspired stabbing attack at a festival in the western city of Solingen in 2024. Three people were killed and 10 others were injured in that attack.
