A 26-year-old Syrian is suspected of carrying out a double "
Islamist
" knife attack in Duisburg, one of which killed one person, the federal prosecutor's office said on Friday.
The federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe, in charge of the most complex cases in Germany, including terrorist procedures, has announced that it will take up this double investigation targeting the Syrian, arrested last weekend.
Initially, no clear reason had been established by the investigators for these two cases dating back ten days and more.
But the elements now accumulated, in particular the results of a search of the suspect's home, have revealed "signs
of an Islamist motivation
" in these attacks, a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor's office told Spiegel.
The Düsseldorf public prosecutor's office, initially responsible for the investigations, had already mentioned an "
Islamist
" motive on Tuesday.
The Syrian is suspected of having carried out a knife attack on April 18 in a room in Duisburg (west) during which four men were injured, one very seriously.
Man stabbed on Easter Sunday
He is also now suspected of stabbing a man to death on Easter Sunday in Duisburg, less than a kilometer from the sports hall.
According to the weekly
Der Spiegel
, he tried to behead the victim.
The DNA analyzes of this one, as well as of one of the wounded of the sports hall, were found on a shoe of the suspect.
The suspect, about whom no details have been released at this stage, has so far remained silent.
The country has been the scene of several jihadist attacks, the deadliest of which, a truck attack carried out in December 2016 on a Christmas market in Berlin, left 12 dead.
On Tuesday, the authorities announced the arrest of another Syrian, with "
radical Islamist and jihadist
" convictions, suspected with the complicity of his brother of having planned an explosive attack.