国际英语新闻：Report says al-Qaida to attack German Parliament building

BERLIN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday, al-Qaida will launch an attack against German Parliament building next February and March according to recent calls to the German federal crime agency (BKA) from an informant.

The magazine said a group of six people have been involved in the attacking plot. Two have been in Berlin for six to eight weeks, while the rest four people, including a German, a Turk and a North African were on the way.

The report has not been confirmed by BKA, but it has been flying through local media, as the German government has raised its security checks across the country this week for receiving " concrete" information on terror attacks planned for the end of November.

"According to information from a foreign partner after the Yemen incident, we suspect a planned attack is to be launched at the end of November," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday in an urgently called press conference.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was reported on Saturday to calm down the tight atmosphere of terrorist attacks across Germany at NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, saying "no terrorist threat will prevent people from living freely and without fear in Germany. "

But she also warned possible terrorist attacks in Germany as " the danger of terrorism does exist."

The parliament building, Reichstag, has strong symbolic meaning for Germany and the world, which has witnessed several historical events, like Nazi assuming complete control of Germany in 1933, the end of World War II in 1945. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was soon restored as the country's legislature and became a place of interest in Berlin, which attracted hundreds of visitors every day.