A video found on a USB drive shows the two teen bombers practicing for the attack and may prove the act of terror was meticulously planned.
The two teenage jihadists who were responsible for the bombing of a Sikh temple in Essen which injured three people are now thought to have carefully planned the attack. Police in the case have discovered a USB drive following the arrest of Yusuf T. and his fellow 16-year-old accomplice Mohammed B. that shows the pair setting off a prototype of the bomb they used in their terror attack.
The pair have claimed that video simply showed them having fun with home made fireworks but police are sceptical of their claim Spiegel Online reports.
The discovery has led authorities to look seriously into the possibility that the bombing may have been meticulously planned by the pair. The video shows a detonation of what looks like a home made bomb in an open area outside while Yusuf T. can be seen. Investigators are trying to determine what the bomb was made from and if it was the same materials used in the bomb on the Sikh Temple.
In the apartment of Mohammed police also discovered invoices for chemicals purchased over the internet, wires, and an ignition system with remote detonator still in it’s package leading to speculation it could have been used in a future attack.
The police also found a container filled with sulfur and a magnesium fire extinguisher.
A balaclava was found near the Sikh Temple which police claim has DNA that matches Yusuf T. and they say that they have evidence that the pair’s mobile phone had been used in the vicinity of the crime scene during the attack as well.
For the police there is very little that could convince them that the pair had not committed the attack.
The motivation for the attack remains hazy as investigators try and piece together the backgrounds of the teens. It is known that Yusuf was into the Salafist scene and that his sympathies to the Islamic State had become well known among his teachers and parents.
It was revealed that Yusuf was part of a government funded anti-radicalization program called “Wegweiser” which attempts to steer young Muslims away from radical Islamic ideas and groups.
Yusuf is said to have been in contact with another young 17-year-old jihadist in the town of Dinslaken named Tolga I. Yusuf had messaged Tolga via WhatsApp on the day of the attack to inform him that the bomb had been planted. Tolga himself is well known to police and has a restriction on travel placed against him because authorities fear he may try and join ISIS in Syria.
All three teens were part of a WhatsApp group made mostly of under-age Turkish teens who spread Islamist propaganda and ideas.
The trio are part of a trend of young teens and children being recruited by Islamic extremists and the Islamic State to carry out terror attacks or join ISIS in Syria. It was estimated by Dutch intelligence that ISIS was training up to 70 children to fight the Syrian government or one day return to Europe and participate in terror operations.