ISIS claims ax attack by refugee in Germany

UPDATE (1:20 p.m.): A 17-year-old refugee-turned-terrorist in Germany left a note vowing to “take revenge on these infidels” for the death of a friend back home in Afghanistan, German officials said today. Though Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility and a hand-painted ISIS flag was found in the suspect’s apartment, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect’s handwritten notes indicated he might have been self-radicalized and there was no indication he was directly connected to the group.

Investigator Lothar Koehler corrected initial information that the suspect, whose name has not been released, came to Germany two years ago, Koehler said he had been first registered as a refugee in June 2015, when he crossed into the country from Austria. He received asylum at the end of March and had the right of residency in Germany. Koehler said he hadn’t committed any previous crimes that authorities in Germany were aware of. He was a Sunni Muslim who didn’t go to the mosque regularly, but prayed regularly at home, Koehler said.

“He was active on social media, had his page there, but there were no hints of any extremist Islamist thought,” Koehler said. “However, 24 hours ago, he posted a cryptic message that was about the enemies of Islam.”

German officials have also identified the victims of the attack. They included four members of a family of five from Hong Kong who were on vacation. The fifth victim was a local woman who was walking a dog nearby and was attacked as the suspect fled the scene. Two of the five wounded have life-threatening injuries, Bamberg prosecutor Erik Ohlenschlager said.

OUR EARLIER STORY: Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for an ax attack on a German train that injured five people Monday. Police shot and killed the attacker, a 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan whom they say might have radicalized himself.

The man, whose name authorities have not released, wielded an ax and a knife as he shouted “Allahu akbar,” witnesses said. About 30 people were on the train near Wuerzburg-Heidingsfeld; one of them pulled the emergency cord, and the attacker jumped off. He wounded at least four people on the train and one outside as he fled.

The attacker came to Germany from Afghanistan two years ago as an unaccompanied minor and applied for asylum in March of last year. He lived in a home for young refugees until two weeks ago, when he was placed with a foster family in the Wuerzburg area. Investigators were talking to the foster family, witnesses, and the attacker’s friends. He left notes written in Pashto in his room that indicated he might have been self-radicalized, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said. Herrmann added that people close to the attacker told investigators he seemed like a calm person, not overtly religious or an extremist.

The attack comes during an intense debate in Europe over how to handle refugees from war-torn, majority Muslim countries. Fears that the immigration process for migrants allows terrorists to slip across borders have fueled not only arguments between European Union leaders, but also the “Brexit” movement to divorce Great Britain from the EU, which succeeded in a referendum last month.