As German police investigate an attempted suicide bombing last night that killed the Muslim migrant bomber but failed to kill others, it has emerged he was a devotee of the Islamic State.
Bavaria’s top security official says a video has been found on the Ansbach bomber’s phone showing him pledging allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group. Joachim Herrmann says that according to an initial translation of the Arabic-language video the 27-year-old man announced a “revenge” attack against Germany.
Herrmann told reporters Monday that the video strongly suggests the bombing was a “terrorist attack”.
Joachim Herrmann says officers discovered videos with “Salafist content” on storage devices seized at the 27-year-old Syrian man’s home. Herrmann told reporters Monday that police also found gasoline, chemicals and other material that could be used to make a bomb.
He said there was no evidence yet of any links to extremist organizations but that the evidence found suggested an Islamic extremist motivation. The unnamed Syrian was the only person killed in the blast. More than a dozen people were wounded.
The would-be killer had apparently intended to detonate his home-made device at a music concert in the town of Ansbach, Bavaria attended by 2,500 music fans. The man was denied entry because he didn’t have a ticket, and so detonated the device outside a nearby wine bar instead. Although he only killed himself, twelve others nearby were injured by the blast.
The Syrian national was due to be deported to Bulgaria, having failed in making an asylum claim in Germany. That he was going to be sent back to Bulgaria suggests this was his first point of entry in Europe, crossing the border illegally from Turkey. Under Europe’s Dublin agreement, so-called refugees are returned to their nation of first registration — most often southern states like Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
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