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ICE stopped in Seubersdorf in der Oberpfalz: Obsessed with IS propaganda
Photo: Vifogra/AP
At first it seemed to have been the act of a mentally ill person, but now the federal prosecutor's office has intervened: After a knife attack in which four people were injured in an ICE train between Regensburg and Nuremberg, the investigators are now assuming an Islamist-extremist act.
Because of the special importance of the case, the Attorney General in Karlsruhe has taken over the investigation, as a spokesman for the authority said, confirming a report in the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
The attacker, who was 27 in the attack last November, injured four men between the ages of 26 and 60.
He is in custody.
After the crime, investigators discovered propaganda videos from the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) on him.
Investigators have been assuming for some time, citing an expert, that the suspect was guilty.
He was transferred from the psychiatric facility to prison on January 19.
Attacker is said to have longed for Sharia state
Shortly after the attack, another expert initially assumed that the suspect could have been innocent at the time of the crime.
He was then placed in a district hospital.
When he was arrested, the man is said to have said: »I am sick.
I need help.” A paranoid schizophrenic hung in the room.
It was unclear whether an extremist motivation could have played a role in the attack.
According to the federal prosecutor's office, they now have "serious indications of an Islamist background".
The man is accused of, among other things, attempted murder in two cases, attempted manslaughter and intentional bodily harm.
The dpa news agency reports that the investigators are now assuming that the attacker rejects the western, free-democratic state and social system of the Federal Republic.
He disregards all Germans and only wants to live with other "orthodox" Muslims in a state based on Sharia law.
This resulted, among other things, from statements by witnesses who were acquainted with the man.
It was also said that propaganda was found on him that also called for attacks.
The suspect himself appeared on social media.
However, he is said not to have been organizationally integrated into the structure of IS or controlled by it.
After the attack on the ICE Passau-Hamburg, the suspect allowed himself to be arrested without resistance.
Police found a bloodstained jackknife with a blade length of eight centimeters on him.
According to earlier information from the authorities, the Syrian has lived in Lower Bavaria since entering the country in 2014.
In 2016 he was recognized as a war refugee.
apr/dpa