Unlike French President Francois Hollande, who on Tuesday visited Normandy where two assailants killed a priest, Merkel has not been to the scene of any of the attacks in Germany – an absence that has raised questions about her leadership.
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The German Chancellor had rushed back from a holiday and was speaking at a press conference that had been hastily brought forward to address the carnage in her country.
Over 1 million refugees flocked to Germany past year.
The leader of Syria’s Nusra Front said in recording aired Thursday that his group is changing its name, claiming it will have no more ties with al-Qaida in an attempt to undermine a potential USA and Russian…
Adding: “The basic principle that Germany stands by [is that] its humanitarian responsibility is the right thing”.
Merkel said that she would not allow jihadists, following a series of deadly attacks in France, Belgium, Turkey and the US state of Florida as well as Germany, to keep her government from being guided by reason and compassion.
“Anxiety and fear can’t advise our political decisions”, she said.
“The terrorists want to make us lose sight of what is important to us, break down our cohesion and sense of community as well as inhibiting our way of life, our openness and our willingness take in people who are in need”, Merkel said.
But she said people fleeing persecution had a right to be protected, adding that the attacks were meant to “spread fear and hatred between cultures and between religions”.
She described the attacks as “shocking and depressing”, and said that the perpetrators had mocked Germany by posing as refugees.
Two assailants, a Syrian asylum seeker and a refugee from either Pakistan or Afghanistan, had links to Islamist militancy, officials say.
One Syrian “refugee” hacked a pregnant woman to death on the street. Three of the four attacks were committed by asylum-seekers.
Merkel dismissed criticism of that, noting that she will attend a memorial service in Munich on Sunday, and rejected the notion that she might personally feel any guilt about the attacks.
“That we are in a struggle and war against Isis is uncontested, we are not in a war against Islam but against…”
Critics say Germany’s Bundeswehr is neither trained nor equipped to participate in police operations during terrorist attacks. The chancellor began by defending her handling of the refugee crisis and vowed swift action against those who commit terrorism.
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Merkel repeated unbidden her insistence that Germany “will manage” the challenges of the day – a phrase she first used at last summer’s annual news conference. In a calm and measured delivery, Merkel said it was a struggle against the self-declared “Islamic State”, (IS) “in my opinion, a war”.
