Afghan Train Attacker Had Self-Drawn Islamic State Flag, Say German Police Investigators make discovery while searching the room of 17-year-old asylum seeker after attack in southern Germany By Ulrike Dauer
http://www.wsj.com/articles/afghan-train-attacker-had-islamic-state-flag-say-german-police-1468914702
German investigators found a “self-drawn IS flag” in the belongings of an Afghan man who attacked passengers on a German train on Monday, Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said Tuesday.
Police found the Islamic State flag while searching the room of the 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who wounded four people on a train in southern Germany with a hatchet and knife and another after he fled the scene, shortly before being shot dead by police late Monday.
Police said two of the wounded—members of a Chinese family from Hong Kong visiting Germany—were in a critical condition.
Police are still investigating whether the attacker was part of an Islamist network or radicalized himself individually, Mr. Herrmann said on German television, citing witness reports that the attacker shouted a religious statement.
“At least on the train he acted alone,” Mr. Herrmann said. “It still needs to be verified whether he had contact to others with an Islamist background.”
Speaking just after the attack, Mr. Herrmann had said one witness reported hearing the attacker shout “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.” However, other passengers on the train, he said, didn’t recognize “any particular Islamist motive” to the attack.
If the motive is confirmed, the incident would represent the most significant such attack in Germany since a Kosovar gunman killed two U.S. servicemen in 2011.
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