“Your operation here against Islam makes an attack on Germany tempting for us mujahedeen,” a German-speaking Taliban fighter in Afghanistan identified as Ajjub says in the video.
Two threatening videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — showing video of top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich’s world-renowned Oktoberfest.
OnSaturday, authorities banned all flights over Oktoberfest until it endson Oct. 4. This year’s 16-day festival is expected to draw some 6million visitors.
IntelCenter, an organization that monitors terrorism, said the threats directed at Germany are “now at unprecedented levels.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes to return for a second four-year term and ditch her conservative party’s “grand coalition” with her main rivals, the Social Democrats, led by her foreign minister and challenger, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The Taliban video showed photos of German landmarks, including the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Oktoberfest in Munich, the Frankfurt skyline, as well as Defense Minister Franz-Josef Jung and Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Germanauthorities tightened security after the first threats, with many moreofficers now visible at airports and train stations.