BERLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Germany will step ‌up ​efforts to fight left-wing ‌militants after activists claimed responsibility for an attack ​on a power station in January that caused the longest electricity ‍blackout in Berlin since ​World War Two, the interior minister said.

“Our security agencies ​will be ⁠significantly reinforced in the fight against left-wing extremism,” the minister, Alexander Dobrindt, said on Tuesday.

He added that 1 million euros was on offer for information leading to the perpetrators of the January ‌attack, which was suspected to have been carried out by ​a ‌far-left activist organisation called ‍the ⁠Volcano group. The incident left 45,000 households without power in freezing temperatures.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency will devote more staff to left-wing militancy, Dobrindt said, adding that new legislation is being prepared to expand the digital investigative powers of security authorities. The measures would cover automated ​data analysis, biometric facial recognition and the storage of IP addresses.

In its latest report, the domestic intelligence agency said left-wing motivated crime was up 38% in 2024 although the number of leftist violent crimes had fallen by 27%.

Dobrindt said the move, as well as a planned law to protect critical infrastructure, would not lead to a reduction in the fight against other forms of radicalism.

“We have had ​a lot of success with a right-wing extremism, Islamist terrorism .. But the focus has not been sufficiently on left-wing extremism and we see left-wing terrorism … is making a strong ​comeback,” he said.

(Reporting by Miranda MurrayWriting by Madeline Chambers, Editing by William Maclean)

Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.