BERLIN, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Experts fear Germany will become the target of terrorist attacks after it surfaced that German soldiers desecrated a dead body in Afghanistan.
"Historically, Germans enjoy an excellent reputation in Afghanistan," Conrad Schetter, Afghanistan expert at the Center for Development Research in Bonn, told online daily Netzeitung. "But disturbing the peace of the dead is considered taboo and in Islamic eyes is absolutely unbearable."
German mass-circulation Bild daily broke the story Wednesday when it printed a picture of a smiling German soldier holding a skull. Other images, which have sparked a wave of outrage by politicians from all German parties, show a skull mounted on top of a tank and a jeep, with several soldiers posing. Perhaps the most disgusting image features a soldier holding the skull in one hand and his uncovered penis in the other.
Schetter added the pictures, if published in Afghanistan, could spark a wave of anger against German soldiers there.
"There are Internet cafes in almost every city, and I fear that after the Friday prayers at the latest, demonstrations may sweep the country."
That could lead to outbursts of violence or even planned terrorist attacks against the roughly 2,750 German soldiers stationed in northern Afghanistan, he said.
The international press even suspects Germany could become a terror target.
Italian newspaper La Stampa said the pictures couldn't be compared to the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad or the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses, but they may nevertheless "spark a new wave of Islamic anger, with attacks in Afghanistan or even in Germany."
Germany meanwhile identified six soldiers accused of having been involved in the scandal. Four are no longer members of the German armed forces, but two still serve -- they will have to leave the Bundeswehr immediately and face criminal prosecution, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said.
