Further details have emerged about the 27-year-old, who injured 15 people – four of them seriously – when he detonated a backpack filled with explosives and shrapnel after being turned away from a music festival being attended by thousands of people.
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The Syrian man who blew himself up outside a bar in Ansbach vowed the people of Germany “won’t be able to sleep peacefully anymore” in a video filmed before the attack.
Officially this attack is not confirmed as terrorism, he said, but there are strong indications it may be.
“A provisional translation by an interpreter shows that he expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to (Islamic State leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi…an act of revenge against the Germans because they’re getting in the way of Islam”, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told a news conference.
The attacker, who came to Germany two years ago but had his asylum claim rejected after a year, tried to kill himself twice in the past and spent time in a psychiatric clinic, according to the authorities, reported Agence France-Presse.
Nuremberg police chief Roman Fertinger said the influence of Islamic State could be seen on the bomber’s computer.
More than 2,000 people were evacuated from the festival after the explosion.
Asylum-seekers are routinely deported to the first country where they registered if they do not follow proper procedures, even if they are considered to have a legitimate asylum claim. He was already known to police, having been linked to a drugrelated offence. Europe has been on edge for months after a string of deadly attacks claimed by Daesh, including bombings in Brussels and the carnage at Bastille Day celebrations in the southern French city of Nice.
Eyewitnesses have described the panicked aftermath of the Ansbach attack, and said people covered in blood had streamed into a nearby cafe after a “very loud bang”. MERKEL’S OPEN-DOOR POLICY UNDER THREAT ■ Germany warned against branding all refugees a security threat.
German police investigates at the site in Ansbach, Germany, Monday, July 25, 2016, where a failed asylum-seeker from Syria blew himself up and wounded people after being turned away from an open-air music festival in southern Germany.
Three of the attacks were carried out by recent immigrants, rekindling concerns about Germany’s ability to cope with the estimated 1 million migrants registered entering the country past year.
In Munich, meanwhile, authorities said Monday that a 16-year-old Afghan friend of the gunman who carried out the mall attack may have known of the assailant’s plan in advance.
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JULY 24, REUTLINGEN ASyrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a kebab knife at a snack bar.
