German police shot dead a 17-year-old Afghan refugee Monday after he attacked train passengers with an axe and a knife, seriously wounding four in what one official said was a “probable” Islamist attack.
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Correcting initial information that the suspect came to Germany some two years ago, Koehler said he had been first registered as a refugee in June 2015, when he crossed into the country from Austria. He lived in a home for young refugees until two weeks ago when he was placed with a foster family in the Wuerzburg area.
Five people were wounded in the attack late Monday near Wuerzburg, including four members of a Hong Kong family who were on the train and a woman walking her dog outside.
“Then, without warning, he attacked the passengers using great force on their bodies and their heads”, Ohlenschlager said.
The teen came to Germany without his parents, according to Alexander Gross, a police officer in Bavaria.
Some 14 to 25 people were classified as “in shock” and treated at the scene, according to Gross.
Herrmann said that it was too early to draw conclusions about the attacker’s motive. He was living with a foster family and had a part-time job at a bakery. The police reported finding a “hand-painted Islamic State (IS) flag” in the asylum seeker’s room.
Though this attack may highlight fears about radical Islamists slipping in with genuine refugees, “It’s not OK to blame or fear all refugees because of the act of one”, said Schuster, who has backed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s safe haven policy while urging vigilance.
Prosecutors said the teenager shouted “Allahu Akbar” three times as he rampaged through the carriage.
Germany has thus far escaped the kind of large-scale jihadist attacks seen in the southern French city of Nice last week, in which 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a truck to mow down people leaving a Bastille Day fireworks display, killing 84 people.
The authorities in Germany have reportedly expressed doubts regarding the country of origin of the train attacker who was alleged to be an Afghan asylum seeker.
He says it’s not yet clear when the video was shot. Two of them remained in critical condition Thursday.
De Maiziere said authorities were looking into the possibility that he might have been from Pakistan, but other evidence suggest his being from Afghanistan, including comments he made about a friend in Afghanistan having recently been killed – something authorities think may have prompted him to plan his attack.
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Police however later found a farewell letter he apparently left for his father, who still lives in Afghanistan, in which he said the world’s Muslims “must defend themselves”. “I am praying for them, and the whole community is praying for them”, he said.
