The attacker, identified as Mohammad D, was killed in the blast and 15 people were injured.
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As it can hardly stop refugee inflows from war-ravaged regions, the question raised in Germany is more about government policy.
Two attacks came on Sunday alone – including a Syrian refugee who blew himself up at a music festival – following a shooting spree on Friday in Munich that left 10 dead and an ax attack last Monday. “We should not change our behavior, though also not be unguarded”. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for two of those four attacks before yes- terday.
A Syrian man who tried unsuccessfully to claim asylum in Germany pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and vowed the nation’s people “won’t be able to sleep peacefully anymore” in a cellphone video before blowing himself up outside a wine bar, wounding 15 people, authorities said Monday.
Many acts of terrorism in Western countries are carried out in revenge for the countries’ intervention in regional hot spots. Though the man was denied asylum in 2015, he stayed on in Germany under a special category called “Duldung”, meaning that his presence would be tolerated.
He was already known to police, having been linked to a drug-related offence. “We have enough to keep up with from people who are said to pose a threat”. Concerns had died down as the flood of newcomers has slowed dramatically, but the recent attacks have rekindled the debate over how Germany can best cope with the numbers.
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.
Thomas Strobl, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg, where a woman was killed by a Syrian attacker Sunday, also demanded a tougher stance toward asylum-seekers. The man said the attack would be committed in the name of Allah as retaliation for the killing of Muslims.
“People are scared, completely understandably, and right now they need a credible answer from politicians”, said minister president of Bavaria Horst Seehofer, adding that it was “finally time to address people’s fears”.
JULY 22, MUNICH An 18-year-old Iranian-German went on a shooting rampage in the Bavarian state capital, Munich, killing nine people.
And last Monday, another teenager, wielding an axe and a knife, wounded four passengers on a regional train, before injuring a passer-by as he fled police.
Stephen Mayer, an MP in the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, said: “We have to regain our sovereignty and we have to reassert the rule of law”.
Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel a year ago proudly declared a “welcoming culture” for refugees, Armin Schuster, the Christian Democrats homeland expert in the Bundestag warned the country needs a “farewell culture” too.
After the attacks, anti-migrant remarks and criticism of Merkel’s migrant policies have been renewed.
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Germany accepted more than 1 million asylum seekers previous year, and some Germans have expressed fears that terrorists might have entered the country among them, or that disaffected youths among the refugees could be susceptible to radicalization. “It is completely wrong to blame Angela Merkel and her refugee policy for this incident”.
