BERLIN – Germany's Defense Ministry is proposing better screening of new recruits over fears Islamic extremists could be joining the Bundeswehr to get military training.
News agency dpa reported Tuesday that a proposal to institute background checks on all recruits should be presented later this month.
Citing a military counterintelligence report, dpa reports 29 former Bundeswehr soldiers have gone to Syria or Iraq to fight with extremists.
Parliament's commissioner for the military, Hans-Peter Bartels, says training with the Bundeswehr or other countries' armies is attractive for extremists and should be taken seriously.
Still, he says he has seen no evidence of "any Islamist organization attempting to systematically infiltrate the Bundeswehr."
Germany's military already investigates extremism of all types in the army, and currently has 65 open cases against suspected Islamic extremists.
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