German military will intervene in air or sea attack at World Cup

Jun 8, 2006, 2:20 GMT

Brussels - The German military will take action in case of a terrorist attack during the World Cup if police are not in the position to handle the situation, Germany's defence minister said Wednesday.

Franz-Josef Jung said the military would act even without a change in the constitution allowing military forces to act in defence against terrorist attacks.

'If such an attack occurs, it must be clear that the German military will realize its task of protecting the people,' Jung told journalists in Brussels late Wednesday.

Police forces cannot defend against terror threats from the air or from the sea, he noted, adding that he believed military forces can act on German territory legally even without a new law demanded by Germany's supreme court on the deployment of the military within Germany's borders.

'We would intervene, for example, if a state of emergency is declared, even if no constitutional clarification has been reached,' Jung said.

The minister had counted on a change in the constitutional law late last year that would allow deployment of the military inside Germany under certain circumstances.

'Today inner and outer threats are no longer as easy to separate as they were before,' Jung said. 'We will never take up police duties, but in an attack from the air or sea, the police can do little. In that event, only the German military can help.'

It is clear, however, that Germany needs a clarification of its constitution, he said.