German interior minister Joachim Herrmann said the contents of his backpack could have killed many more people as it was stuffed with explosives and riddled with “wood manufacturing equipment”, such as nails and bolts.
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“An explosion went off in the city centre and a man, which the latest enquiries show caused it, was killed”, police said in a statement.
Ansbach deputy police chief Roman Fertinger said there were “indications” pieces of metal had been added to the explosive device.
Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers last year, but the public mood towards the newcomers darkened after migrants were blamed for a wave of sexual assaults during New Year’s Eve festivities in the city of Cologne.
The Ansbach explosion is the third attack in the German state of Bavaria in a week. The festival, called Ansbach Open was promptly canceled.
The man, who has not yet been named, stood around the festival entrance for a short period before he blew himself up.
“Afterwards he made his way to the outdoor seating area of a restaurant”.
This man saw the explosion.
The Syrian had been involved in previous incidents causing injuries to others, and had apparently acted alone, a police spokesman said.
“People were definitely panicking, the rumour we were hearing immediately was that there had been a gas explosion”, he said.
“Then people came past and said it was a rucksack that had exploded”, he told Sky News. Emergency vehicles were also seen crowding the center of the city, located very close to the place where the blast happened. He had also previously twice attempted suicide.
Ansbach is situated about 40km from Nuremberg in the German state of Bavaria.
The incident comes amid tension following other bloody events in Germany over the past week.
They say the younger man may have known more details ahead of the upcoming rampage than he admitted during an initial interrogation with the authorities.
He said he could not exclude the possibility of an Islamist-inspired attack, but said that would have to be confirmed by an investigation.
Michael Schrotberger said: “If there is an Islamist link or not is purely speculation at this point”.
The attack occurred on Sunday afternoon.
On July 18 a teenage asylum seeker from Afghanistan injured five people with axe on a train.
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The Bavarian Interior Ministry told dpa that it appeared to possibly be a bombing attack, saying that there was evidence that there was a “deliberate explosion”.
