The man said the attack would be committed in the name of Allah as retaliation for the killing of Muslims. As it was, the bomber only managed to kill himself. As evidence unfolds it is starting to become clear the motive behind the horrific attack was likely terrorism.
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Mohammad Daleel left three people critically injured when he detonated a bomb in his backpack in the small German village of Ansbach, Germany.
Horst Seehofer, the interior minister of Bavaria where three of last week’s attacks took place told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung Tuesday: “We must know who is in our country”.
On Friday, nine people were killed in a shopping centre shooting spree in Munich by a German-Iranian teenager with a history of psychological problems but no apparent links to jihadists.
Social media criticism of Merkel was especially harsh, with some people condemning her for accepting hundreds of thousands of migrants a year ago.
Anxiety over Germany’s ability to cope with last year’s flood of more than 1 million registered asylum seekers first surged following a series of sexual assaults and robberies in Cologne during New Year celebrations.
But a fellow-resident at the refugee shelter, 28-year-old Mubariz from Pakistan, paints a different picture of the Syrian, saying he was friendly when they happened to meet in the communal kitchen.
It could be “a combination of both”, De Maiziere added.
Germany had tried to deport him to Bulgaria, where his asylum application had been approved, said De Maiziere. The two were in psychiatric treatment together previous year and allegedly met at the scene of the attack shortly before it began, prosecutors said yesterday. Officials said it was unclear why the deportation wasn’t carried out.
On Tuesday, IS published a video of what it said was the Ansbach bomber pledging allegiance to the extremist group and vowing Germany’s people “won’t be able to sleep peacefully anymore”. But he was not sent back to Syria, as German policy does not allow rejected applicants to return to war zones.
He seemed eager to work, Mahmood said.
Mr Herrmann also said bomb-making materials were found at the man’s home after police discovered gasoline, chemicals and other material that could be used to make a bomb.
He did not have a ticket and had been denied entry into the concert, according to Herrmann.
The music festival and surrounding area were then evacuated.
About 7,000 US military, civilian and dependent personnel are stationed in Ansbach and nearby garrisons.
After a Syrian refugee committed a suicide bombing in the southern German city of Ansbach on Sunday, the fourth terror attack in Germany in the course of one week, some German citizens are comparing their new reality with life in Israel.
“I understand that many people feel unsettled”, he said.
Munich authorities said Monday at a news conference that a 16-year-old Afghan friend of the Munich attacker may have known of the attack in advance.
The man threatened a “revenge attack” on Germans in the video, he said.
And a Syrian refugee killed a 45-year-old Polish woman with a large kebab knife Sunday at a snack bar in the southwestern city of Reutlingen.
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Most of the immigrants entering Germany previous year came through Bavaria, and Bavarian authorities have been particularly critical of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policies.
