German security officials say they are carefully considering possible signs of foreign finances or influence in a series of attacks in German cities over the past year.
But they calmly responded to German television reports suggesting that a suspicious internet search was made in Russia before the fatal attacks in Mannheim last year.
The 26-year-old Afghanist confirmed the knife attack that targeted anti-Muslim activist Michael Stultzenberger and killed a police officer in May last year, days before the European elections.
The ZDF TV report suggests that a Google search in Russia several days ago included “terrorist attacks in Mannheim” and “Michael Stultzenberger’s stab wounds.”
Digital intelligence analyst Stephen Broschert told public broadcaster ZDF’s Terra X History program that the search is extremely rare.
He spoke about Russian internet searches for webcams at Mannheim’s market square before the May 31 attack took place.
The broadcaster also highlighted the fire inside the parcel at the DHL cargo hub in Leipzig, which Western security officials have denounced at Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.
The attack in August 2024 predates Saxony’s regional elections, and the head of the national intelligence news Joachim Kramer of neighbouring Turingism told ZDF, “Those who deal with this know that, even if they’re not declared, are actually at war.”
Sulaiman A, a trial of a man accused of carrying out the Mannheim attack, hears how he was fascinated by the Islamic state of jihadist groups, and how he ordered knives online in advance.
Other German cities were then hit by attacks, including this year in Asschaffenburg and Munich, ahead of the federal elections. The killing coincided with Spike, supporting the German alternative, the far-right anti-immigrant party.
Other than saying that the issue of “potential signs of influences of targeted targets from overseas” has been taken seriously, Interior Ministry officials have not commented on ZDF’s report on Russian internet search four days before the Mannheim attack.
So far, “there were no clear signs,” the spokesman told AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for German BND Intelligence Services expressed skepticism about analyzing internet searches prior to last year’s attack on Mannheim.
“The results of Google’s trends are not suitable for the analysis and evaluation methods presented, and neither can they be used to use their effectiveness,” the spokesperson told Reuters.
The spokesman suggested that the results were based on too small samples and searches, and that VPNs (virtual private networks) that disguised the location of the search were not considered.
Despite vigilance of intelligence responses, former BND employee Gerhard Conrad warned that not pursuing these leads would be “naive.”
Such violent crimes, he said, would certainly fit “a toolbox of what we currently call hybrid measures, a hybrid war.”
The domestic intelligence agency warned last week that Russian spies were using “spying, sabotaging and impact efforts” to target Germany and other parts of Europe.
