Refugees did not bring terrorism to Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said stressing that Islamist extremism was already there before the migrant influx worsened. The comment comes a month after she admitted terrorists used the migrant flow to enter Europe.

“The phenomenon of Islamist terrorism, of IS, is not a phenomenon that came to us with the refugees, we rather have and had it,” Merkel said as she spoke at an election campaign event ahead of the regional vote due to take place in the eastern region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 4, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Terrorism is something Germany already had suffered in the past, Merkel noted.

The German leader added that Islam had a full right to exist in the country along with any other religion and could be practiced as long as it did not breach the constitution.

Full story: rt.com