German intelligence: ISIS attack just a matter of time

Germany is as vulnerable as Brussels to a major Islamic State attack, a German intelligence expert told CBS News Thursday.

"It is not a matter of if, but when. With the military contribution, we have finally arrived on the radar of ISIS," said Dr. Markus Kaim, a senior fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, expressing views shared by many diplomats, intelligence analysts and police officials in Berlin.

Germany joined the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq last year, albeit in a limited refueling and reconnaissance role. In response, the jihadi group has urged its radical followers in Germany to carry out terrorist attacks in major cities, naming the chancellery in Berlin and Cologne Bonn Airport as two of its primary targets.

Germany's BKA federal police force, which monitors suspected militants with German passports returning from Syria and Iraq, said it was aware of the threat.

"We are aware of this material and our experts are checking it," a BKA spokeswoman said. "It is clear that Germany is the focus of international terrorism and that attacks could happen, but this material doesn't change our security assessment."

Unlike France and Belgium, Germany's constitution bars the use of its military to increase emergency readiness domestically, effectively making the police "the last line of defense and response," a challenge they are simply unable to meet, Ernst G. Walter, head of the German Federal Police Union, told CBS.

"Where we are not prepared is with the policeman on the street, normally the first to confront terrorists," he said. "We need modern weapons. We need armed helmets against shooting by a Kalashnikov. ... We have very old weapons in the German police force. The machine guns are the machine pistol MP5 -- it's about 50 years old." He was referring to the 9 millimeter submachine guns made by Germany's Heckler and Koch since the 1960s.

On Thursday, German police detained an Iraqi aged 46 and a Nigerian aged 29 on suspicion of having links with Islamic State and of planning "a serious act of violence," officials said.

Security sources had provided information that both could have been in contact with members of Islamic State, state prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch said in a statement.

The suspects were detained in the Bavarian capital Munich and nearby Fuerstenfeldbruck, police said in a separate statement, adding there had been no imminent threat to the public.

Meanwhile, the Frankfurt Jewish community hosted a four-day youth congress on Islamic terrorism and the refugee problem in Europe.

Titled "Terrorist Threat: Islamic Fundamentalism -- Challenges and Perspectives," the conference featured German and Israeli experts in the field. It was organized by Beni Bloch, head of the Central Welfare Office of Jews in Germany.

Bloch, 73, was born in Jerusalem and moved to Germany as a young man. His organization facilitates student exchange programs, and fosters ties with Jewish groups, state bodies and government ministries in Israel.

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