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Crime scene in Dresden
Photo: Roland Halkasch
The security authorities were closer to the suspect in the case of the fatal knife attack than previously known.
According to SPIEGEL information, Abdullah Al HH was under surveillance in the days before the crime and was also observed at times.
Nevertheless, he was able to obtain two knives with which he finally committed his deed.
The "Welt" had previously reported on it.
The fatal attack occurred on October 4th.
Abdullah Al HH is said to have attacked two men in downtown Dresden with the kitchen knives.
One was more than eight inches long.
The 55-year-old victim from Krefeld later died in hospital.
His 53-year-old companion survived the attack and, according to the authorities, has since returned to Cologne.
So far it is unclear why the Syrian attacked the vacationers.
According to SPIEGEL information, the suspect has been known to the Saxon security authorities as a violent extremist for some time.
The police listed Abdullah Al HH as a threat.
The federal prosecutor's office has taken over the investigation into the knife attack.
The investigators assume that the act had a radical Islamist background.
20-year-old Syrian Abdullah Al HH was arrested on Tuesday evening.
An arrest warrant for murder, attempted murder and dangerous assault was issued on Wednesday.
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The 20-year-old was sentenced some time ago to more than two years in prison, among other things for instructing the commission of a serious act of violence that was dangerous to the state.
In addition, the court considered it proven that the rejected asylum seeker had recruited members for the "Islamic State" (IS).
According to SPIEGEL information, the alleged perpetrator came to Germany in 2015.
Since the early summer of 2017, he is said to have increasingly turned to IS and thought about an attack.
The man may have radicalized himself further while in detention.
The accused was only released from custody at the end of September after serving his youth sentence and has been under supervision ever since.
Criticism of security authorities
The case also preoccupies politics.
Green leader Robert Habek spoke out in favor of a more consistent fight against Islamism.
Friedrich Merz, candidate for the CDU chairmanship, also criticized a failure by the authorities in SPIEGEL: "Why was this Islamist Syrian not taken into preventive detention or deported after serving his sentence?"
The pressing question arises, "why the Saxon security authorities did not monitor the threat better," said Michael Theurer, FDP parliamentary deputy in the Bundestag, to SPIEGEL.
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