The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for an attack by an axe-wielding Afghan refugee on a German train, according to Islamic State’s Amaq news agency. A hand-drawn Islamic State flag was also found in the room of the Afghan refugee by authorities on Tuesday.
Earlier on Monday, German police had shot dead the 17-year-old Afghan on Monday after he attacked passengers with an axe and a knife on a train which runs between Treuchlingen and Wuerzburg in Bavaria.
ISIS also released a video where the accused proclaimed the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate while brandishing a knife at the camera. It was posted by Amaq.
Early reports suggested he had yelled “Allahu akbar”, but police later said there was no evidence pointing to a religious motive.
Four people were severely injured, while several others were left wounded in what is being termed an “Islamist attack’ on a regional train near the southern city of Wuerzburg, police said.
Joachim Herrmann, the interior minister of Bavaria state, said the assailant had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany and was living in nearby Ochsenfurt.
The teenage assailant was killed as he tried to flee. “The perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State,” the IS-linked Amaq news agency said.
Two of the victims of the young Afghan refugee are in a critical condition, police in the town of Wuerzburg said on Tuesday.
This incident comes four days after the French city of Nice braved a truck attack by 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, killing 84 people. ISIS had claimed responsibility for that attack as well.
(With agency inputs.)
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