The Hungarian Defence Forces are providing for the special protection of foreign military personnel in Hungary in an organised effort, Tibor Benkő, Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces told the Hungarian News Agency MTI on Saturday.

The Friday night bloody attacks in Paris have so far claimed 128 lives. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks committed in multiple locations.

Colonel-General Benkő informed MTI: there are at present some forty Czech and Slovak soldiers in Hungary; they are taking part in the joint international training mission called Balaton 2015 ordered as part of the V4 cooperation in connection with the situation caused by illegal migration. They are quartered in barracks. The guarding and protection of these facilities has been upgraded, and attempts are being made to ensure – given that it is the weekend – that they should avoid mass events and venues attracting large numbers of people during the course of their leisure-time activities in order to minimise the potential threat.

The Hungarian Defence Forces have further enhanced their security measures on the borders and in the case of members of the military involved in missions. At the same time, there is no change in the duties of soldiers, and they continue to perform their service as before.

Hungarian soldiers are participating in peace-keeping missions in 14 countries around the world. Their duty is to attempt to stabilise the situation on the ground. From among the sites of these missions, in the present situation Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan qualifies as a priority where members of the Hungarian military are assisting the training of Kurdish Peshmerga forces which are fighting against the terrorist organisation calling itself the Islamic State which also claimed responsibility for the acts of terrorism in Paris.

The Colonel-General further pointed out that, at this point in time, there is no specific information indicating that there is a connection between the flood of mass migration currently afflicting Europe and the Paris terrorist attacks. At the same time, the Chief of Staff takes the view: it is a fact that thousands of people are entering Europe daily without controls of any kind which conveys the threat that there may also be people specialising in acts of this nature – who jeopardise the security of Europe and Hungary – in their ranks.

(MTI)