Germany: Islamic extremist motive possible in train attack

3 yıl önce

BERLIN — German prosecutors say they are no longer ruling out an Islamic extremist motive in a knife attack on a train earlier this month that left four people wounded.

Prosecutors in Munich said Tuesday that Islamic State group propaganda videos had been found on the suspect and that material on the 27-year-old’s Facebook account also points in that direction, news agency dpa reported.

Get the full experience.Choose your plan

The attack took place on an IntercityExpress high-speed train traveling from Passau, on the Austrian border, to Hamburg on Nov. 6. Authorities have said previously that the man attacked his victims apparently at random and showed signs of mental illness, but that there was no immediate indication of a terror motive. The man was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Police have said that the suspect, a Syrian citizen, came to Germany in 2014 and was granted asylum in 2016. He had been living in Passau.

The train stopped at Seubersdorf, a station between the Bavarian cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg, after the attack and investigators said the suspect was arrested quickly and without resistance.