An explosion outside a bar in the southern German city of Ansbach, Bavaria, has left at least one person dead and 15 others injured. A large-scale investigation has been launched into what is believed to have been a “deliberate” act.
25 July 2016
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Amaq news agency.
Speaking at a news conference, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann said that "a provisional translation by an interpreter shows that [the attacker] expressly announces, in the name of Allah, and testifying his allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a famous Islamist leader, an act of revenge against the Germans because they're getting in the way of Islam."
"I think that after this video there's no doubt that the attack was a terrorist attack with an Islamist background," he added.
The attacker had twice been ordered to be deported to Bulgaria, his point of entry into the European Union, according to officials cited by The New York Times.
He had received asylum in Bulgaria in 2013, according to top Bavaria security official Joachim Hermann.
German police say the attacker had enough materials to build another bomb.
Bavaria's interior minister says a video on the attacker's phone makes it clear that the explosion was a terror attack.
The German interior minister has ordered increased police presence at airports, train stations, and borders.
German daily Die Welt has quoted Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann as saying that it was unclear whether the 27-year-old Syrian man who set off a bomb outside a crowded music festival in Ansbach, wounding 12 people, was an Islamist or not.
"My personal view is that it is unfortunately very likely that a real Islamist suicide attack took place here," Herrmann said.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Tobias Plate, said on Monday that the Syrian suicide bomber was in fact to be deported to Bulgaria. Plate said Syrians can't be deported directly to Syria because of the situation there, adding that he could not say "at this moment why the deportation" of the failed asylum seeker failed to take place, AP reported.
The suspect was first noticed by security staff at the Ansbach Open concert at around 9:45pm, police said in an updated statement. After he was refused entrance, the 27-year-old Syrian sat outside a local wine restaurant, where at about 10:10pm, according to the testimony of witnesses, the suspect leaned forward and detonated explosives.
Police added that the suspect has lived in Ansbach since July 2, 2015 and had a “criminal” history. A special commission with more than 30 people was established to handle the investigation.
Police are asking any witnesses who captured footage of the attack to send it to the authorities.
Following a press conference, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) told Germany’s DPA, that he personally considers the bombing in Ansbach to have been the work of an Islamist suicide bomber.
"My personal opinion is that, unfortunately I think, it is very obvious that there has been a real Islamist suicide attack here," Herrmann said early Monday.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees will reveal why the suspect’s asylum application had previously been rejected later in the day Herrmann noted that those who are “seeking protection in Germany, must show full respect for the German legal system and the German population.”
The minister added that the attack demonstrated the need "to strengthen controls on those we have living in our country".
Authorities announced that investigators found the offender's cell phone and it is now being examined by specialists. The investigation of the crime scene will still take a few days, Nuremberg police chief, Roman Fertinger, said at the conference.
The Bavarian interior minister noted that the contents of the backpack, in which the explosives had been carried, would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people, had the explosion happened in heavily populated area.
"We don't know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others," Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann said.
The suspect lived abroad in a hotel in Ansbach, the minister said. He had tried to commit suicide two times and was previously housed in a psychiatric hospital. In the coming days, the investigation will focus on establishing whether the man acted with suicidal intent, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told journalists.
So far, the investigation has found no evidence of an attempted political assassination or extremism, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out. The type of explosives detonated has not yet been established, but Hermann said that “metal parts” were apparently used in the improvised device
The attacker was a 27-year-old Syrian who had entered the country about two years ago, but had been refused asylum, Bavarian authorities told a press conference. His application was rejected a year ago but the man was allowed to stay in Germany temporarily, due to ongoing hostilities in Syria.
Police said that they do not yet know whether the attacker had a radical Islamist background. The investigation currently focused on the attacker’s communications.
The man who was killed by the explosion initially survived the blast but later succumbed to his wounds, a police spokesperson cited by weekly German news magazine, Focus. His injuries were consistent with the close detonation of an unknown explosive device, leading authorities to believe that he was the perpetrator.
Following the explosion, some 350 servicemen from the fire and rescue services arrived at the scene.
At least 12 people were injured in the explosion, with three people suffering “serious” injuries, a police spokeswoman said.
“A man, according to our current knowledge the perpetrator, died,” Ansbach police said in a statement cited by AP.
The detonation occurred at the entrance music festival "Ansbach Open" in front of a wine bar at 10:12pm local time, next to a hippodrome in which the concert had been taking place, Rosenheim 24 reported. There have been no official confirmations that it could have been a suicide attack.
Regional public broadcaster, BR 24, reported that the entire old town has been cordoned off with city residents still unable to return home.
The only fatality in the blast could have been the perpetrator himself, Bild reported, citing police.
24 July 2016
According to unconfirmed reports, a man with a backpack had been denied entry to a nearby music festival just before the explosion.
A spokesman for the Bavarian interior minister said that the explosion in the Eugene Weinstube restaurant was a“deliberate” act rather than an accident.
“At present we assume it is not an accident," the spokesman said.
The police have set up an operations center in City Hall and a crisis team has been formed. A special police task force (SEC) has also been deployed. Volunteer firefighters from Nuremberg, Katzwang and Almoshof were called in to assist authorities.
“The explosion in downtown Ansbach was not a gas explosion, but was caused by an explosive device,” Ansbach Mayor Carda Seidel confirmed.
Seidel also said that it should not be ruled out that there could have been several explosions.
At least one person has been killed and 11 others injured after an explosion struck a restaurant
According to media reports, the explosion occurred in front of a restaurant. A music festival nearby was forced to end as the guests were evacuated. Police and rescue workers are currently engaged in a large-scale operation.
The incident at a wine bar happened shortly after 22:00 local time.
The incident took place in the central part of the city, close to a place where a music festival took place at the weekend, Suddeutsche Zeitung reports. Police have cordoned off the area around the restaurant and are conducting a crime scene investigation.
At least one person has been killed and 11 others injured when an explosion struck a restaurant in the south German city of Ansbach, Bavaria, local media report. The cause of the explosion is unknown.