Germany receives attack warnings around G8 summit

BERLIN, May 17 (Reuters) Two security officials said today Germany had received warnings of left-wing attacks linked to a Group of Eight (G8) summit next month in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm.

Joerg Ziercke, head of the federal crime office, and Heinz Fromm, president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution watchdog, said they were braced for violence across Germany linked to the summit of world leaders between June 6-8.

''There have been some concrete announcements and signals, such as letters threatening violence, from left-wing extremist groups,'' Ziercke said in an interview with Reuters.

He said the attacks being signalled were evidently not aimed at individuals but rather vehicles and buildings.

Fromm told the Passauer Neuer Presse newspaper that authorities in Berlin, Hamburg and across northern Germany were on high alert for attacks. There have also been threats aimed at a meeting of foreign ministers in Hamburg set for late May.

''You can't exclude the possibility that people will be endangered,'' said Ziercke. ''I'm nevertheless confident that we'll succeed in ensuring the G8 summit goes forward without any disturbances.'' ''We're dealing with a campaign of militants who want to disturb the G8 summit in Heiligendamm. They've already caused disturbances and launched some attacks,'' he added.

German authorities have been on high alert for the G8 summit, erecting a 13-million-euro 2.5-metre-high steel and cement security fence around the hamlet of 280 people.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has also repeatedly warned it would be dangerous to underestimate the threat of left-wing attacks at the summit.

There have been several left-wing attacks in Germany in recent months that police said appeared to be linked to the G8 presidency this year.

On December 27, a car in front of the home of deputy finance minister Thomas Mirow was set on fire while his house's windows and walls were splattered with paint. Police said they had obtained a letter claiming responsibility for the attack.

The German office for the protection of the constitution warned in December of possible attacks from left-wing extremist groups opposed to the policies of the G8, a grouping of industrialised nations which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Reuters PB DB2131