Knife attack in Zug: investigators examine Islamist motive

Created: 05/13/2022Updated: 05/13/2022 15:09

The police lettering is on an emergency vehicle.

© Christoph Soeder/dpa/symbol picture

Horror scenes in a regional train: suddenly a man randomly stabs fellow passengers and injures five people.

The attacker had previously been noticed by the authorities as an "Islamist test case".

Herzogenrath/Düsseldorf - After the knife attack in a regional train near Aachen, the investigators are examining an Islamist background.

This was announced by NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Friday.

The perpetrator is a 31-year-old man who was born in Iraq, his nationality is still unclear.

In the attack on Friday morning, the man injured five people and there was no danger to life.

The perpetrator was also injured.

The man suddenly stabbed passengers “indiscriminately and arbitrarily” on a regional train near Herzogenrath on Friday morning, Reul said.

It was "a cruel act that could be stopped in an act of enormous courage".

A 60-year-old federal police officer, who happened to be on the train, managed to overpower the attacker with the help of two other passengers.

There were about 270 passengers on the train.

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The perpetrator came up with the authorities in 2017 as a so-called Islamism test case, said Reul.

At the time, the man was living in a refugee home and had changed so much that the home then informed the authorities.

It is now necessary to determine whether there really was an Islamist motive for the current act.

dpa