Authorities have revealed a Syrian asylum seeker who blew himself up in Ansbach, Germany, had made a video pledging allegiance to ISIL. The 27-year-old, who had spent a stint in a psychiatric facility, had meant to target a music festival in the city of Ansbach but was turned away because he did not have a ticket. Joachhim Hermann also said bomb making materials such as gasoline and chemicals were also found in the assailant’s home.
Advertisement
The attack in Ansbach, a serene city of about 40,000 west of Nuremberg, came near the end of the closing night of a popular open-air music festival being attended by about 2,000 people.
“It all appeared to be going pretty well for Merkel but the situation has changed dramatically in the 10 days between the Nice attack and Sunday’s suicide bomber in Ansbach”, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote, referring to attacks in France and Germany claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
“A provisional translation by an interpreter shows that he expressedly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to (IS leader) Abu Bakr Baghdadi, a famous Islamist leader, an act of revenge against the Germans because they’re getting in the way of Islam”, he said at a news conference.
It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week – three of them carried out by recent migrants.
“The Syrian in Ansbach was facing deportation and this was to Bulgaria”, he said.
Police classified this attack as an act of terrorism after a hand-painted Islamic State flag was found among the refugee’s belongings.
The man from Aleppo, in northern Syria, injured 15 people when he detonated an explosive device in the Bavarian town of Ansbach about 10pm local time on Sunday night, after being denied entry to the event because he did not have a ticket. Thomas de Maiziere insists that internal security is first and foremost the role of the police, not the army (Bundeswehr). According to the investigation, the suicide bomber tried to enter into a festival within the city and after failing to enter, he went to the restaurant and blew himself up. Four remain in serious condition.
Herrmann said the man’s request for asylum was rejected a year ago, and a spokesman for Germany’s interior ministry said he had received two deportation notices.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Monday cautioned Germans against branding refugees as a security threat after a rash of attacks over the last week.
Political responses to this string of attacks aim mainly at reassuring the public that action is taken to limit the danger.
The bombing at the music festival followed a shooting spree at a shopping centre in Munich on Friday, in which an 18-year-old man shot dead nine people before killing himself. All three assaults were in Bavaria which has been a gateway for tens of thousands of refugees under Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal asylum policy.
People who knew the terrorist said that he suffered from suicidal tendencies and was a compulsive liar.
Earlier on the same day, another Syrian refugee attacked several people in southwestern Germany, killing one person and injuring two others. A few people came running towards us who had been near the cafe.
Advertisement
Although it’s too soon to say whether these attacks would threaten Merkel’s chances of staying in power after federal elections next year, “she will face more pressure and scrutiny for her immigration policies”, Otto said.
