Family from Hong Kong injured by teenage attacker on German train
Print Edition
THE Islamic State group yesterday claimed responsibility for an ax-and-knife attack on a German train that left at least five people injured.
However, authorities said it appears the 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker shot dead by police as he fled the scene appears to have self-radicalized and had no direct link to the extremists.
German officials did not identify the victims, but Hong Kong’s immigration department said four members of a family of five from the southern Chinese city were among those injured.
The teenager is said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) as he attacked people on the train near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg on Monday night, and a hand-painted flag of the Islamic State was found during a search of his room, according to state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.
Though the Islamic State group claimed responsibility, Herrmann said the suspect, whose identity has not been released, had written notes in his native Pashto that indicated he may have been self-radicalized. There was “no indication” he was directly connected to the IS group.
Herrmann said investigators were still looking into the evidence found in the teenager’s room, including what could be farewell letter to his father.
“There are hints that he — in a text — writes about the lives of Muslims, but also that Muslims must take action on their own and resist now,” Herrmann said.
Herrmann said that it was too early to draw conclusions about the attacker’s motive.
The university hospital in Wuerzburg confirmed that it was treating two patients from Hong Kong with life-threatening injuries. Hong Kong’s top official, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, condemned the attack and extended his sympathies to the victims and their families.
Herrmann said it was a tragedy that a “family from Hong Kong comes here as tourists to visit Wuerzburg ... and then becomes victims on a train here in Bavaria in an attack conducted by an offender who came from Afghanistan and who was originally seeking shelter here.”
German news agency dpa reported that the attacker injured the 62-year-old father, the 58-year-old mother, their adult daughter and her boyfriend. The teenage son was not injured. The father and the boyfriend had tried to defend the other family members, dpa said.
The mayor of Wuerzburg condemned the attack. “I’m shocked by this horrible act of violence,” Christian Schuchardt said.
The assailant jumped off the train after someone pulled the emergency cord and got about 500 meters into Wuerzburg’s Heidingsfeld district, attacked a woman with his ax and ran off before police gave chase. As they drew near, he started attacking the officers and was shot, Herrmann said.
Witnesses said the interior of the train was covered with blood and looked “like a slaughterhouse,” dpa reported. About 30 passengers were on the train at the time; more than a dozen were treated for shock.
The attacker came to Germany more than a year ago and had applied for asylum. He lived in a home for young refugees in Ochsenfurt near Wuerzburg until two weeks ago when he was placed with a foster family, Herrmann said.
According to dpa, he was interning at a bakery and had a good chance of getting into a job training program.
Germany last year registered more than a million asylum seekers entering the country, including more than 150,000 Afghans.
In May, a man stabbed four people at a German train station in a random attack in Grafing near Munich. One man later died. The attacker, a German citizen, also shouted “Allahu akbar” during the attack, but authorities found no evidence of links to Islamic extremists. He was later sent to a psychiatric hospital.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
