A rejected Syrian asylum seeker has blown himself up after he was denied entry into a music festival in southern Germany. The 27-year-old attacker had been denied asylum, according to Bavarian authorities.
He killed himself and wounded12 others when he detonated an explosive device after being denied entry to the event in Ansbach because he did not have a ticket, the Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann said.
An estimated 2,500 people attended the open-air festival, according to local media.
“We don’t know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others,” Herrmann said. He added that three of the 12 victims suffered severe injuries.
“Unfortunately, this is a terrible new attack which will surely increase people’s anxiety,” saying that the contents of a backpack the attacker was carrying would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people.
Herrmann said the suicide bomber, who came to Germany two years ago but had his asylum claim rejected after a year, had tried to kill himself twice in the past and had spent time in a psychiatric clinic.
A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Ansbach said the attacker’s motive remains unclear.
“If there is an Islamist link or not is purely speculation at this point,” said the spokesman, Michael Schrotberger.
The city of Ansbach is in Bavaria lies about 124 miles (200km) north of Munich and home to a US Army base and the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. A spokesman at the base said the base had no information about the explosion.
This is the third terror attack in Germany within a week and these will certainly reignite discussions over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s immigration policy and gun control.
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