The demands for better security screening of migrants and increased police presence in Germany came after a 27-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel on Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach, killing himself and injuring 15 people. German officials said Monday that a video found on his phone showed the refugee pledging allegiance to ISIS. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before yes- terday.
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In the deadliest attack in the past week, the 18-year-old son of Iranian immigrants went on a rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and wounding dozens. The attacker, a 27-year-old Syrian who had been denied asylum in Germany, might also have had a mental disorder.
Police, who had initially said the murder weapon was a machete, concluded that the incident in which three others were injured was likely a “crime of passion”.
Three of the four brutal incidents were in Bavaria, the southern state which has been a gateway for tens of thousands of refugees under Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal asylum policy. “I think after this video there’s no doubt that the attack was a terror attack with an Islamist motivation”.
In recent days there has been a string of attacks that have terrorized Germany.
“The terrorism threat (among refugees) is not larger or smaller than in the population at large”. About 2,500 people were attending a music festival.
“We will do all we can to prevent attacks like these in the future, but there are no guarantees”, Mr.de Maiziere said, adding that many Germans have asked him how they might have to change their daily lives now that this latest generation of terrorism has come to Germany.
The so-called Dublin principle observed by many countries determines that asylum seekers who have passed through a safe third country where they could have claimed asylum can be sent back there in order to make their claim.
The assailant, who lived in Ansbach, was already known to police, having been linked to a drug-related offense.
Three of the attacks were carried out by recent immigrants, rekindling concerns about Germany’s ability to cope with the estimated one million migrants registered as entering the country previous year. “And we will also be conducting secret manhunts near our borders”.
German police union chief Rainer Wendt on Monday morning urged for the control of refugees coming to Germany, saying it should be tightened in order to limit potential security risks.
No matter the motives, these attacks are heartbreaking, and unfortunately are part of an ongoing trend throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
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The attack came almost a week after a 17-year-old refugee attacked people with an axe inside a passenger train near the German city of Würzburg, injuring five people.
