Authorities yesterday said they strongly suspected a motive of Muslim militancy in an axe and knife attack carried out on a German train by a 17-year-old Afghan refugee that seriously wounded four members of a family from Hong Kong.
The assault on a regional train near the southern city of Wuerzburg on Monday left two people in a critical condition, Bavarian State Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann said.
The teenage assailant was killed as he tried to flee.
Photo: EPA
“We hope that those who were gravely injured make it,” Herrmann told ZDF public television.
The assailant had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany, Herrmann said.
A hand-painted flag of the Islamic State group was found among the belongings of the Afghan refugee, who had been staying with a foster family in the region.
“It is quite probable that this was an Islamist attack,” a ministry spokesman said, adding that the assailant had shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “Allah is great.”
He said the investigation was ongoing and that the teenager appeared to have acted alone.
The assault happened at about 9:15pm on a service running between the town of Treuchlingen and Wuerzburg in Bavaria.
An eyewitness who lives next to the railway station told DPA news agency that the train, which had been carrying about 25 people, looked “like a slaughterhouse” with blood covering the floor.
The man, who declined to give his name, said he saw people crawl from the carriage and ask for a first-aid kit as others lay on the floor inside.
“The perpetrator was able to leave the train; police left in pursuit and as part of this pursuit, they shot the attacker and killed him,” a police spokesman said.
Herrmann later said that the teenager was shot when he attacked police while trying to escape the scene.
A special police force unit happened to be nearby and was able to mobilize quickly, Herrmann added.
The four seriously injured people are members of a family from Hong Kong, authorities in the territory said yesterday, adding that the immigration department was providing them with assistance.
Germany let in a record nearly 1.1 million asylum seekers last year, with Syrians the largest group, followed by Afghans fleeing ongoing turmoil and poverty in their country.
The number of refugees arriving in Germany has fallen sharply as a result of the closure of the Balkans migration route and an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow.
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