Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Officials: German train attacker had no ISIS connection

Officials say the Afghan teenager who wielded a knife and a hatchet to attack random German train passengers had no direct contact with the Islamic State

in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to multiple reports.

The 17-year-old, who arrived as a refugee last year, brutally slashed five people around the head and torso, shouting “Allahu akbar.” At least two were seriously injured.

ISIS took credit for the attack Tuesday, claiming that it had been carried out by an "Islamic State soldier” and releasing a video purporting to be the attacker.

But the link between the terror group and the teen, who was killed by police during the attack, has remained uncertain.

“There is much to indicate that this was an attack committed by a lone assailant who was spurred on by the propaganda of the so-called Islamic State,” German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters Wednesday, according toBloomberg.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann told a press conference late Tuesday that the teen “radicalized himself,” according to local reports.

Investigators found a hand-drawn flag of the Islamic State in his room, as well as notes written in Pashto that suggest he may have been self-radicalized.

German officials have also not confirmed the video, which shows a young man brandishing a knife and saying in Pashto, “I will do a martyrdom operation in Germany today.”

The incident highlights the difficulty security officials face in identifying and tracking potential ISIS sympathizers who may be motivated to carry out a “lone-wolf” attack.

Social workers, teachers and others described the young Afghan as a religious Muslim, according to The New York Times, but said he not stood out in any way since arriving in Germany last June.

Investigators learned from close friends of the attacker that he had recently lost a close friend in Afghanistan, but who the friend was and how he or she died remains unknown, according to The Times.

“Politically, he was a completely blank page,” Lothar Köhler, who heads the investigation for the Bavarian state police, said Tuesday.