begin quote from:
Syrian Man Blows Himself Up Outside German Concert
| Wall Street Journal | - |
BERLIN—Authorities
said a 27-year-old Syrian man tried to enter an outdoor concert in
southern Germany and then blew himself up, injuring 12 people, in what
appeared to be this country's first suicide bombing in years.
Syrian Man Blows Himself Up Outside German Concert
Authorities say 27-year-old set off device that also injured 12 after being denied entry to Ansbach event
ENLARGE
A policeman stands
guard in Ansbach, Germany, after a man was killed and several others
were injured in an explosion Sunday. The town’s mayor said the blast was
apparently caused by an explosive device.
Photo:
Daniel Karmann/European Pressphoto Agency
The bombing took place in central Ansbach, a small town in the state of Bavaria that was hosting a concert that attracted 2,000 people on Sunday night.
Just after 10 p.m., the man sought to enter the concert but couldn’t get in, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters early Monday morning in Ansbach. Investigators believe the man then set off a bomb that killed him and injured 12, three of them seriously, Mr. Herrmann said.
100 miles
denmark
100 km
North Sea
poland
Berlin
neth.
bel.
Frankfurt
czech rep.
france
Munich
austria
switz.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the man was only seeking to kill himself or also to hurt others, Mr. Herrmann said.
But investigators were looking into whether the blast was motivated by Islamist extremism, he said.
The man had come to Germany two years ago and applied for asylum. His asylum application was rejected last year but he wasn’t deported because of the civil war in Syria, as is standard practice in Germany, Mr. Herrmann said. The man was already known to the police, he said, because he had twice been treated in a hospital after trying to take his life.
It was the fourth high-profile act of violence within in a week in Germany and the third involving an asylum applicant. Last Monday, a teenager who had registered as an Afghan refugee injured five people in an ax attack in Würzburg that was claimed by Islamic State. On Friday, an 18-year-old Iranian-German went on a shooting spree in Munich, killing nine. Officials say the Munich suspect appeared to have been obsessed with mass shootings. And earlier Sunday, a 21-year-old Syrian asylum applicant killed a 45-year-old Polish woman after what police suspected was a personal dispute.
Mr. Herrmann said violent extremism “was not typical for refugees in our country.” But, he added, “it is clear that with these attacks in quick succession, the worries and fears in our population will grow.”
If investigators find that the man was seeking to hurt others, the Ansbach bombing would represent the first suicide attack in Germany in recent memory. While Belgium and France have suffered from Islamist suicide bombings in the past year, Germany has avoided significant terrorist attacks.
But the last year’s influx of refugees and migrants to Germany has unsettled parts of the public, with some politicians claiming it was only a matter of time before Islamist terrorism also made its way to the country. More than a million people seeking asylum arrived in Germany since January 2015, among them more than 300,000 Syrians, according to government figures.
Ansbach, a town of 40,000 people, hosts an open-air concert series in the city center called Ansbach Open. Sunday’s event, featuring three German artists, was scheduled to be the last of three nights of concerts.
Write to Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com
