Islamist terrorism by IS is not a phenomenon related to refugees, says Angela Merkel

Berlin: Chancellor Angela Merkel has dismissed suggestions that the influx of refugees over the past year has brought Islamic extremism to Germany.[caption id="attachment_2888886" align="alignleft" width="380"] File image of Angela Merkel. AP[/caption]German news agency dpa quotes Merkel as saying that "Islamist terrorism by IS isn't a phenomenon that came to us with the refugees, it's one that we had before too."Merkel was speaking late on Wednesday at a political rally in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where her Christian Democrats face strong competition from the nationalist. Alternative for Germany party in state elections on 4 September.The country has been shaken by a string of attacks, two of which were the first in Germany claimed by the Islamic State group.In those, only the attackers both asylum-seekers were killed. In an unrelated attack, a German teenager killed nine people in Munich.