Attack in a regional train near Würzburg

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Location of the attack near Würzburg

In an attack on a regional train near Würzburg on July 18, 2016 , a refugee registered as a minor and unaccompanied in Germany injured five people with an ax and a knife , four of them seriously. The perpetrator was subsequently shot by a police special task force (SEK) . The investigative authorities assume an Islamist- motivated act.

Sequence of events

On July 18, 2016, at around 8 p.m., the perpetrator left his foster parents' home in Gaukönigshofen , a community with around 2,500 inhabitants 20 kilometers south of Würzburg. He told them that he wanted to ride a bike and that it could "take a little longer".

To 21 clock the perpetrators boarded at around eight kilometers from the railway station in Ochsenfurt on the Treuchtlingen-Würzburg railway circulating regional train (RB) 58130 in direction Würzburg , for a railcar of 440 series perverse. The perpetrator first went to the toilet. About 15 minutes later he attacked fellow travelers between the Winterhausen and Würzburg Süd stations with an ax and a knife. According to the competent public prosecutor of the prosecutor's office Bamberg the cry was "on a recorded phone emergency Allahu akbar " clearly understood. After the train at Würzburg- Heidingsfeld came to a standstill due to an emergency braking , the perpetrator fled the train. He then hit a passerby who was walking her dog twice in the face with the ax.

The special operations command South Bavaria from Munich, which was in the vicinity because of another mission, tracked down the perpetrator in the Main meadows about 500 meters away from the train. When he tried to attack police officers with his weapons , they hit him with four shots, two of which were fatal.

Victim

The four victims on the train belonged to a five-person Hong Kong family travel group who were returning to Würzburg from a trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber . According to the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post , the 62-year-old husband and 31-year-old boyfriend of the 26-year-old daughter were critically injured while trying to protect the seriously injured wife and daughter from the perpetrator. A 17-year-old son of the couple was physically unharmed. After the offender left the train, he injured a 51-year-old passerby.

After the rescue operation, most of the victims were admitted to the Würzburg University Hospital, the 26-year-old daughter was treated at the Nuremberg Hospital before she was transferred to the Würzburg University Hospital . Four weeks after the crime, one victim, the friend of the family's daughter, was still in an artificial coma and in mortal danger. The three injured members of the families, the parents and the daughter, were also treated at the Würzburg Clinic. The injured German was able to leave the Würzburg Clinic three weeks after the crime. The Chinese victims were released from the clinic in mid-November 2016.

The Society for German-Chinese Friendship (GDCF) collected donations for the daughter and the daughter's friend, as they had to seek treatment after their return to Hong Kong . The daughter's boyfriend has to seek medical help regularly and struggles with the psychological consequences of the crime, but like the daughter can go back to work and is planning to marry.

Perpetrator

The perpetrator came to Germany via Hungary and Austria at the end of June 2015 as part of the refugee crisis without documents . His fingerprints were recorded in Hungary in the Eurodac system. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said that the federal police took the man's personal details on June 29, 2015 at 3:55 a.m. In Passau the police checked and a report was made on suspicion of unauthorized entry without a passport. On December 16, 2015, he presented under the name Riaz Khan Ahmadzai ( Pashtun رياض خان احمدزی) an application for asylum as an unaccompanied minor refugee . He stated that he was born on April 6, 1999 in Afghanistan . The personal hearing, including taking photos and taking fingerprints, provided by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) after the asylum application was submitted, was not carried out. In March 2016 he was granted a residence permit. On July 1, 2016, he moved from the Kolpingheim in Ochsenfurt to a foster family in Gaukönigshofen . According to the Bavarian State Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs, Family and Integration , he completed an internship in a bakery with the prospect of an apprenticeship.

The investigators question the name, age and origin of the perpetrator. According to the investigating authorities, Pakistan is also a possible origin, as a Pakistani document was found in his room. The confessional video also contained several indications that the perpetrator came from Pakistan. During a search of the perpetrator's room, the police found a sketched black banner of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) in a college block and a farewell letter to his father in Pashtun .

The day after the crime, ISIS claimed the perpetrator through its propaganda spokesperson Amaq and published a video on the Internet in which the perpetrator, who is called "Muhammad Riyad", threatened with a knife in his hand in Pashtun : " I am a soldier of the Islamic State and am starting a sacred operation in Germany. "He continues:" The times are over when you came to our countries, killed our women and children and were not asked any questions (...) God willing, you are being attacked in every street, in every village, in every city and in every airport. (…) You can see that I lived in your country and in your house. God willing, I made this plan in your own house. And if God willing, I'll slaughter you in your own house. ”The authenticity of the confessional video has been confirmed by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior .

The trigger for the attack on the train could have been that the perpetrator learned of the death of a friend back home two days before the act. This made a great impression on him and changed him permanently, said an employee of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office .

Ahmadzai had contact with alleged members of the Islamic State . A contact had suggested that he drive a car into a crowd, but Ahmadzai refused on the grounds that he did not have a driver's license. Instead, he announced that he would get on a train and attack the first passengers. A few minutes before the attack, the perpetrator was in contact with a person in the Middle East via an encrypted communication line.

Since no relatives asked for the perpetrator's body to be transferred back to his homeland, he was probably buried anonymously in Würzburg. The local press speculated that the exact location should be kept secret in order to prevent his tomb from becoming a posthumous place of pilgrimage for like-minded people. However, concerns on the part of the authorities that the bomber's grave could be violated may also have played a role.

Investigations

The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office initially took over the investigation. On July 20, 2016, Federal Prosecutor General Peter Frank took over the investigation. There is a suspicion that the assassin targeted the crime as a member of the so-called Islamic State. In addition, it should be clarified whether other previously unknown parties involved or backers were involved in the act.

The public prosecutor's office in Würzburg stated at a press conference on July 19, 2016 that the act was “probably politically motivated”. The responsible public prosecutor stated that the perpetrator acted “with the will to destroy”. The police assume an “Islamist-religious” motivation. Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière speaks of an incident "in the border area between rampage and terror ". According to de Maizière, the confession video is authentic. It is "a classic farewell video of a suicide bomber". The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior expressed itself in the same tenor . In addition, the perpetrator's exclamation " Allahu akbar " was clearly understandable and "an objective evidence". Unlike in other cases, however, the IS statement did not contain any perpetrator knowledge .

The investigating authorities are convinced that the two police officers shot in self-defense . According to the two police officers involved, the perpetrator was three to four arm lengths apart when he emerged from the undergrowth. The perpetrator very quickly approached the officers with his ax raised, who could only defend themselves against the attack by firing a shot.

Reactions

politics

Hong Kong Prime Minister Leung Chun-ying condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the victims. Five days after the crime and one day after the attack in Munich in 2016 , Hong Kong issued a travel warning for Germany.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her condolences through government spokesman Steffen Seibert . Federal President Joachim Gauck called for greater integration efforts and for greater European cooperation in the fight against terrorism .

Debate about Islamist radicalization

According to violence researcher Nils Böckler , the line between rampage and terrorist attack is becoming more and more blurred. The reason is, on the one hand, the declared tactics of the IS , which calls on sympathizers worldwide to carry out autonomous attacks. This would also give people who ran amok, who acted more for personal reasons, the opportunity to charge their act ideologically. According to Böckler, the perpetrators of the attack in Nice on July 14, 2016 and in Würzburg also had the opportunity to radicalize themselves in a short time . While at the "wedding" of Al-Qaida in the 2000s it often took years for perpetrators to radicalize, there are now more and more opportunities to come into contact with extremism on the Internet and on the streets. As a result, radicalization can now take place within weeks. Under these conditions it is almost indistinguishable whether the murderous acts are politically motivated terrorism or a more personally motivated rampage with an ideological touch.

The psychologist Ahmad Mansour and the political scientist Guido Steinberg , on the other hand, firmly reject the thesis of “turbo radicalization” as an explanation for unexpected attacks like the one in Würzburg. Often carers are not able to recognize long-term radicalization tendencies. Since there is no "catalog of symptoms", this can only be done through extensive discussions. Radicalization is usually a protracted and often subliminal process that can begin with a susceptibility to certain ideologems through upbringing, socialization, patriarchal and authoritarian family and social structures as well as certain widespread "understandings of Islam" (Mansour). In addition, according to Mansour, there is an Islamic self-image that emphasizes above all the role of victim and derives from this the legitimation for the hatred of the West. The fact that jihadism finds points of contact with a conservative understanding of Islam and internal-Islamic discourses is a big problem, according to Mansour. He also called for unaccompanied minor refugees to be better protected from radicalizers who specifically seek refugee accommodation "because they know that this group is very easy to manipulate". Steinberg explained that there is now enough evidence that the perpetrator must have identified with jihadist content for some time. His inconspicuousness until the night of the crime could not be understood as evidence of a lack of affinity to IS.

context

In France and Germany, the attack near Würzburg resulted in five attacks within twelve days that attracted great public attention:

After each of these events, with the exception of the attack in Munich, the terrorist militia "Islamic State" claimed that the attacker (s) were close to IS or that they were their "soldiers". The attack in Munich had no Islamist background.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ax attack in Zug near Würzburg motivated by Islamists. In: euronews. July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Ax attack: The chronology of the Würzburg night of horrors. In: Augsburger Allgemeine. July 20, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Dominik Göttler: Assassin from Würzburg was considered balanced and integrated. In: merkur.de. July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Scheduled departure according to the DB timetable: 8:57 p.m.
  5. ↑ a b Near Würzburg: Man attacks train travelers with ax - three seriously injured. Spiegel Online , July 19, 2016, accessed June 19, 2016 .
  6. ↑ a b c IS publishes alleged confession video . FAZ.net, July 19, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b Ax attack on the regional train: Riaz A. learned of the death of a friend in Afghanistan. Welt Online, July 19, 2016, accessed August 31, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Olaf Przybilla: Near Würzburg - attack in regional train - Minister of the Interior: hand-painted IS flag found on perpetrators. In: sueddeutsche.de . July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Two shots hit the ax assassin from Würzburg. In: infranken.de. July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 20, 2016 .
  10. ↑ Near Würzburg: Man attacks train travelers with ax - four seriously injured. In: Spiegel Online. July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
  11. ↑ Clifford Lo, Phila Siu, Stuart Lau: Two Hongkongers critically hurt in German ax attack by Afghan refugee who kept Islamic State flag at home. In: South China Morning Post. July 19, 2016, accessed July 19, 2016 .
  12. ↑ German press agency : Ax attack: Klinikum Würzburg wants to provide daily information about the condition of the victims. In: infranken.de. July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Ax assassination near Würzburg: One of the victims out of danger of life. Spiegel Online, July 22, 2016, accessed July 23, 2016 .
  14. ↑ a b After the terrorist attack on a regional train: Four attack victims continue to be treated , kma-online.de, August 15, 2016
  15. ↑ Ax attack: Würzburger woman released from clinic , Würzburgerleben.de, August 9, 2015
  16. ↑ Ax attack: All victims from the clinic , Nordbayerischer Kurier, November 16, 2016
  17. ↑ Two years after the ax attack in Würzburg: Marry the victim of the attack , Merkur.de August 6, 2018
  18. ^ A b c Julian Staib and Albert Schäffer: Train assassins entered the country unchecked. FAZ.net , July 21, 2016 filed by the original on July 22, 2016 ; Retrieved July 22, 2016 .
  19. ↑ a b c d Stefan Meining ( report Munich ): Würzburg ax attack: Who was the attacker really? In: br.de . July 22, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016 .
  20. ↑ "There were no preliminary entries": The perpetrators from Würzburg were checked in 2015. In: n-tv . July 22, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016 .
  21. ↑ a b Würzburg: Investigators find hand-painted IS flags on train attackers . Spiegel Online, July 19, 2016.
  22. ^ Ochsenfurt after the ax attack: He of all people, here of all people. In: Spiegel Online. July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  23. ↑ Three seriously injured in an attack in Zug near Würzburg . Welt Online, July 18, 2016.
  24. ↑ Assassin Riaz A. was considered "very well integrated". In: The world. July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
  25. ^ ZDF: Investigators doubt the Afghan origin of the perpetrator from Würzburg . In. Augsburger Allgemeine , July 19, 2016.
  26. ↑ Investigators have doubts about the origin , ntv.de from July 19, 2016.
  27. ↑ IS publishes video of the attacker from Würzburg , zeit.de, July 19, 2016.
  28. ↑ Investigators for the ax attack near Würzburg: A perpetrator out of nowhere. Tagesschau, July 19, 2016, archived from the original on July 22, 2016 ; accessed on December 28, 2018 .
  29. ^ Assassin von Würzburg: One year refugee, one day Islamist , Spiegel Online from July 19, 2016.
  30. ↑ IS accuses itself of the attack on the regional train . FAZ.net, July 19, 2016.
  31. ↑ ISIS shows video of the ax terrorist. July 19, 2016, accessed August 31, 2016 .
  32. ↑ Ministry of the Interior confirms the authenticity of the confessor video , In: Stuttgarter Zeitung of July 19, 2016.
  33. ↑ Inconspicuous until death. FAZ.net, July 19, 2016, accessed on July 26, 2016 .
  34. ↑ Andreas Ulrich: Wuerzburg and Ansbach: assassin had contact to Saudi Arabia. Spiegel Online , August 5, 2016, accessed August 5, 2016 .
  35. ^ FAZ, the attackers from Würzburg and Ansbach sought advice from IS , August 5, 2016
  36. ^ Würzburg and Ansbach: Both assassins had contacts in the Middle East. In: Spiegel Online . Retrieved July 28, 2016 .
  37. ^ Press report on the perpetrator's funeral
  38. ^ Joint press release by the PP Lower Franconia and the Würzburg public prosecutor's office. Police Bavaria, July 19, 2016, archived from the original on July 19, 2016 ; Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
  39. ↑ Federal prosecutor takes over investigation after ax attack . Berliner Morgenpost, July 20, 2016.
  40. ↑ a b c O. Przybilla and O. Klasen, Würzburg, B. Galaktionow, P. Munzinger, E. Widmann, B. Peters: Public Prosecutor: Attack from Würzburg “probably politically motivated”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016 .
  41. ^ "De Maizière:" No indications of the IS orders " Spiegel Online, July 20, 2016.
  42. ↑ Federal prosecutor takes over investigation after ax attack. In: Berliner Morgenpost . July 20, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2016 .
  43. ↑ Bavarian Ministry of the Interior confirms: Confessor video real. In: Badische Zeitung. Retrieved July 22, 2016 .
  44. ^ Victims of the attack on the regional train come from Hong Kong. Stern, July 19, 2016, archived from the original on July 20, 2016 ; accessed on January 8, 2019 .
  45. ^ Sarah Sloat: Hong Kong issues travel warning for Germany , Finanz.net , July 23, 2016.
  46. ↑ Angela Merkel: "The victims of this attack have complete sympathy . " Welt Online, July 20, 2016.
  47. ↑ Gauck calls for better integration after the attack . FAZ.net, July 20, 2016.
  48. ↑ RP Online, Ax Attack and Nice Attack "Blurring the Lines between Terror and rampage" , July 20, 2016.
  49. ↑ Frank Lübberding: What does turbo radicalization mean? FAZ.net, July 21, 2016, accessed on July 23, 2016 .
  50. ^ Johanna Bruckner: Maischberger Talkshow - "The AfD is what IS wants in Germany". In: sueddeutsche.de . July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016 .
  51. ↑ For documents see notice in Nice , notice in Munich , notice in Ansbach and notice in Saint-Étienne

Coordinates: 49 ° 45 ′ 22 "  N , 9 ° 58 ′ 14.2"  E