German PEGIDA cancels rally over 'ISIL death threat' to organizers.

German PEGIDA cancels rally over 'ISIL death threat' to organizers. (HD).

Germany's anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement said it has cancelled a planned march on Jan. 19, citing a death threat against organizers from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"Cancelled! Dear friends, unfortunately we must cancel our 13th meeting due to security concerns," the group "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" said on its Facebook page on Jan. 18.

"What in police jargon is called an 'abstract threat' has changed to a 'concrete death threat' against a member of the organizing team. ISIL terrorists have ordered his assassination."

Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly reported Friday that foreign intelligence services had picked up communications by some "known international jihadists", without giving specific details.

The intelligence, which was passed to German authorities, indicated they had discussed possible attacks on PEGIDA rallies.

"We take these leads very seriously," Spiegel quoted an unnamed high-ranking security official as saying.

PEGIDA said it had discussed the threat with state police and the internal security agency.

It had decided to scrap the event in the eastern city of Dresden as it could not guarantee the security of marchers and feared "collateral damage".

Top-circulation daily Bild said in an online report that the threat targeted PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann.

Dresden police chief Dieter Kroll said in a statement that there was a "concrete" threat connected to a member of the PEGIDA team and Monday's demonstration. In view of that, he issued an order barring any rallies in the city on Monday.

Kroll said there had been a call for attackers to mingle with the demonstrators and kill one of the protest organizers. He didn't specify where the threat came from, or if any group was behind it, but said it resembled an Arabic-language Tweet describing PEGIDA as an "enemy of Islam." Hmmm........'Sometimes NATO Ally' - 3,000 in Turkey linked to ISIL group, ISIS controls border crossings......How many are in Germany?