The 27-year-old terrorist who killed himself and injured at least 12 others in Ansbach, Germany, is reportedly a Syrian national who Germany authorities had ordered for deportation twice.
Authorities found a video on the bomber’s phone showing him pledging his allegiance to ISIS shortly after the attack. It is unclear as to whether or not he had any direct support from ISIS, though the fact he had a home-made bomb hints towards some kind of expertise or outside help. Initial translations of the video show that the attacker was motivated by revenge against Germany for denying him asylum.
ISIS took credit for the attack Monday morning.
Officials say the terrorist detonated himself after being refused entry to a music festival, forcing him to instead target a nearby wine bar. He was apparently known to various German authorities for having psychological problems, having been treated for attempted suicide prior to the attack.
Bavaria’s interior ministry confirmed to reporters Monday that the attacker had been denied asylum, but had not been deported due to the dangerous situation in Syria. Ansbach is located inside the German state of Bavaria.
“Due to the situation in Syria, he was not deported. In spite of the rejected application, he was given exceptional leave to remain,” Joachim Herrmann, a spokesman for the interior ministry, told reporters.
Tobias Plate, a German interior ministry spokesman, told reporters during a news conference that the government was in the process of deporting the Syrian terrorist to Bulgaria, where he had originally applied for asylum.
“Syrians cannot be deported to Syria at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that Syrians overall cannot be deported,” said Plate. “The Syrian in Ansbach was facing deportation and this was to Bulgaria.”
The Ansbach bombing represented the third terrorist attack in Germany over the weekend. A suspected Syrian refugee hacked a woman to death and injured two others with a machete in Reutlingen on Sunday, while an 18-year-old German-Iranian shot and killed nine people at a shopping mall in Munich on Friday.
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