Responders on the scene where German police say a man was killed after detonating a suicide vest outside an open air music festival.
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The 27-year-old failed asylum seeker detonated an explosive device near a bar in central Ansbach on Sunday evening after being refused entry to the festival because he did not have a ticket. “Because the rucksack and this bomb were packed with so many metal parts that could have killed and injured many more people, it cannot simply be considered a pure suicide attempt”, he added.
Schoenwald said the unnamed man’s asylum application had been rejected a year ago, but he had been given temporary permission to remain in Germany.
Around 12 people were injured, three seriously.
But Raffaello Pantucci from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) says the first attacks may have influenced what was to follow. They said the attack wasn’t terrorism-related.
“We do not know at the moment whether the offender purely wanted to commit suicide or his intention was to take other people into death”, said Joachim Herrmann, Interior Minister of Bavaria state, on Monday. Mass shootings in Germany – with four or more people killed – are extremely rare, the last carried out in 2009 in the town of Winnenden by a teenage gunman.
One US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators would focus on what the bomber was doing before he left Syria and why he was denied asylum.
Two days earlier, a man went on a deadly rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and leaving dozens wounded.
“I get a bit worked up when I see all the media fuss going on – that’s how people like this get so much attention, which irritates me”, said Erika Mueller.
“The Syrian in Ansbach was facing deportation and this was to Bulgaria”, he said.
On Monday, German police raided a shelter for asylum seekers looking for any evidence that might assist in the investigation.
The suspect sat down on a chair outside a nearby restaurant, leaned forward at 10:10 p.m. and then triggered the explosion.
Polish authorities said she was a Polish citizen.
Police said the attacker had also been known for drug possesion.
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Police have also arrested a 16-year-old Afghan friend in connection with the shooting. More asylum seekers have travelled to Germany than to any other country in the European Union; it received more than a million migrants and refugees in 2015 alone. The initiative came amid growing tensions and concerns in Germany about how it would integrate the estimated 1 million-plus migrants it registered crossing into the country past year.
