LEFT party leaders say they suspect fascist extremists are behind the bombing of a Die Linke party headquarters in Oberhausen on Tuesday.

Huge damage was done to the offices in the city in Germany’s western Ruhr region, though the overnight bombing caused no casualties. Police found remains of an improvised explosive device but no message.

Die Linke Oberhausen party leader Yusuf Karacelik told the Morning Star’s German sister paper Junge Welt that he believed “right-wing terror” was behind the attack because “in the last few weeks and months, we have received a great many threatening letters from right-wing extremists and neonazi stickers have repeatedly been stuck on our windows.”

They had reported all this to the authorities but received no response, he added.

“The police still don’t take the problem of the right wing seriously and are asking us whether the attack could not have come from our own ranks.”

Some in Die Linke said the attack could have been in response to local members’ joining demonstrations against German rearmament plans.

Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser identified far-right extremism as the country’s biggest security threat on coming to office in December, and in March unveiled a 10-point plan to break up fascist networks, including by cracking down on their fundraising through concerts and festivals and disarming an estimated 1,500 with access to firearms.

The previous administration was forced to disband the elite KSK commando unit in the military after revelations of neonazi infiltration of its officer corps, and other scandals have seen police officers exposed as belonging to far-right chat groups and stockpiling weapons.

Crowds rallied in solidarity with Die Linke in the city’s Peace Square following the attack.