Wildfire rages outside Athens fanned by strong winds

LONDON: Germany is facing a heightened risk of terror attacks during the Euros football tournament, authorities have warned.

The country’s “solidarity” with Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks has made it a target of terror groups including Daesh and its affiliates, Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, said.

“However, radicalized individual perpetrators with no recognizable links to terrorist organizations also pose a major threat,” added Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, known as the BfV in German.

Across Germany, which is hosting the tournament, police have had leave canceled.

The Federal Police, responsible for major infrastructure security, have carried out the biggest mobilization in their history by deploying 22,000 officers for the four-week event.

About 2.7 million football fans are expected to attend matches in the 10 German host cities, with 580 officers from neighboring countries brought in to assist German police.

Last week, police said they had arrested a suspected Daesh supporter at Cologne-Bonn airport.

On May 31, an Afghan asylum-seeker in the country attacked members of an anti-Islam group in Mannheim and killed a police officer who intervened.

Last Friday, police shot dead an Afghan national who had used a knife to kill one person and injure three others in Wolmirstredt.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned that Germany is facing greater terror threats, far-right and far-left violence, as well as espionage attempts from Russia and China.

A report by the BfV, the domestic intelligence agency, warned of a surge in extremism across the political spectrum.

“We have massively ramped up all protective measures to arm ourselves against the current threats posed by extremism, terrorism and hybrid threats,” Faeser said.

“This is absolutely necessary. The threat to our democracy from espionage, sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks has reached a new dimension.

“We need the highest level of awareness and protection in all areas: in institutions as well as in companies, especially in the area of critical infrastructure.”