Despite initially ruling out terrorism, officials have now said that radical Islam, not mental health issues, was the likely motivation for a Syrian knifeman’s stabbing spree on a German train.
There are “serious indications” that a migrant man who went on a knife rampage in Germany back in November was inspired by radical Islam, the local prosecutor’s office has reportedly said.
This is despite public officials initially ruling out the possibility of the attack being a terror event, claiming that there was no evidence for such a claim.
According to a report by Die Welt, however, the terror motive appears to be squarely back on the table, with the migrant man now believed to hold hardline Islamic views by prosecutors, including the desire to live in a state ruled in accordance with Sharia law.
Officials seem to have come to this view via the testimony of those who knew the man, as well as reports that he had in his possession radical Islamic propaganda supposedly produced by Islamic State calling for attacks to be perpetrated.
Prosecutors also believe the 27-year old rejects the very notion of a Western democratic nation, with Die Welt saying that the man seemingly “disregards all Germans”.
Two Weeks After Fatal Stabbing, Knifeman Revealed as Known Islamist Extremist with ISIS Links https://t.co/wRIUDXieWg
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 23, 2020
The comments made by German officials in regards to the rampaging Syrian migrant stands in complete contrast to initial claims made by police shortly after the attack.
According to authorities at the time, there was no evidence of any sort of terror motive for the incident, despite Die Welt now reporting that ISIS propaganda was apparently found on the knifeman’s very person.
Instead, it was reported that the man had reportedly shown signs of suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and that he believed people were following him.
“There are no indications of an Islamist background,” claimed one official at the time regarding the incident.
However, this initial rejection that the attack was terror-related was rolled back later by officials, who admitted that a terrorist motive was being looked at as a possible motivation for the incident.
“Indications pointing in this direction include the contents of the defendant’s Facebook account and propaganda videos of the terrorist organization Islamic State found on him,” prosecutors said according to a report drawn up by AFP.
The man has since been sent to jail after an expert said that he could be held criminally liable for his actions, which include wound four people, two near-fatally.
UPDATE: Sky News and PA now say sources are reporting a multiple stabbing in Forbury Gardens, Reading, was "terror-related". This contradicts earlier reports by the Telegraph that police were "understood to be treating the incident as a random attack". https://t.co/ipcXSLvBmy
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 20, 2020
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