Excerpt:
The number of Salafists in Germany has increased twofold since 2013, the interior ministry said Wednesday, surpassing December’s “all-time high.”
The number of individuals classified as Salafists by regional authorities in state offices for the Protection of the Constitution reached 11,000, the ministry said, confirming an earlier report from German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
Five years ago the German intelligence agency BfV placed this number at 5,500 — half of the current total.
Salafism is a fundamentalist Islamic ideology. Security authorities see Salafism as a potential entry point to Islamist terrorism.
Just under 5 million Muslims live in Germany, meaning that the current number of Salafists makes up roughly 0.22 percent of Germany’s total Muslim population.