A Syrian man who tried unsuccessfully to claim asylum in Germany pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and vowed the nation’s people “won’t be able to sleep peacefully anymore” in a cell phone video before blowing himself up outside a wine bar, wounding 15 people, authorities said Monday.
The assailant set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel Sunday night after being refused entry to a crowded music festival in Ansbach because he didn’t have a ticket.
It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week, and the second claimed by ISIS. 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 last year.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said a laptop with extremist videos was found at the apartment of the suspect, a 27-year-old Syrian identified only as Mohammad D. in line with German privacy laws. A video on his cell phone showed him declaring loyalty to ISIS and announcing a “revenge act against Germans because they are standing in the way of Islam.”
In its claim of responsibility, the extremist group said the attack was carried out by “one of the soldiers of ISIS.”
The ISIS-linked Aamaq news agency said the attacker acted in response to the extremist group’s call to target countries of the U.S.-led coalition fighting it in Iraq and Syria. Germany is not involved in combat operations but has contributed reconnaissance aircraft to the effort.
After the ISIS connection surfaced, federal prosecutors in Karlsruhe, who investigated all suspected terrorism, took over the case saying they would seek to “determine if thus-far unknown accomplices or backers were involved in the crime.”
The suspect came to Germany two years ago and applied for asylum in August 2014, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. It turned out that he had already registered in Bulgaria and later in Austria, so Germany rejected his request and ordered him deported to Bulgaria on July 13.
Asylum-seekers are routinely deported to the first country where they registered if they don’t follow proper procedures, even if they’re considered to have a legitimate asylum claim.
De Maiziere said the man had attempted to take his own life twice before in Germany, and had been in psychiatric care.
Roman Fertinger, deputy police chief of nearby Nuremberg, said it was clear the suspect wanted to kill others in Sunday’s attack.
The attack in Ansbach, a serene city of about 40,000 west of Nuremberg, came near the end of the closing night of a popular open-air music festival being attended by about 2,000 people.
In the wake of the Munich attack, city officials had ordered extra security and bag checks at the festival entrance, but the man never got that far because he didn’t have a ticket, Mayor Carda Seidel said.
Fertinger said there likely would have been more casualties if the man had not been turned away. Four of the 15 victims suffered serious injuries.
The U.S. military has a facility in Ansbach, and following the attack it increased security there.
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.
The teen was taken into custody late Sunday for questioning after police said they were able to retrieve a deleted chat between him and the suspect on the messaging app WhatsApp.
Police said the chat appeared to show that the 16-year-old met with the attacker immediately before the shooting started, and knew that he had a pistol.