INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Germany Axe Attack: Afghan Refugee Left Suicide Note, Features In Islamic State Video

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 22:12 PST, Jul 19, 2016

Mohammad Riyadh, the 17-year-old Afghan refugee who carried out a brutal axe attack on a train in Bavaria, Germany, left damning evidence in his wake.

The Inquisitr reported on Tuesday on the brutal axe attack, which affected 20 people on a train traveling between Treuchtlingen and Würzburg in Germany. Of the passengers on the train, 14 were treated for shock, while five people were injured, two of them critically. Riyadh was shot dead by police while trying to flee the scene of the attack.

At that stage, police had noted the discovery of a hand-painted Islamic State flag among Riyadh’s belongings in his room. It was also reported that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the brutal and bloody attack.

According to a report by the Decca Chronicle, the teenager had learned on Saturday that a friend in Afghanistan had been killed, and police feel this may have pushed the Afghan refugee to launch the axe attack against the train passengers.

German authorities have since reported the discovery of a suicide letter among the Afghan asylum-seeker‘s belongings. In what appeared to be a farewell letter addressed to his father, who still resides in Afghanistan, Riyadh said the world’s Muslims “must defend themselves.”

“Now pray for me that I can take revenge on non-believers, pray for me that I can get to heaven,” the letter read.

On Tuesday, the Islamic State group released a video which purportedly features the 17-year-old Afghan refugee who launched the train axe attack. The video is included in the tweet below, but may upset sensitive viewers.

The video reportedly shows “Mohammed Riyadh” holding a knife and stating in Pashto that he would carry out an “operation” in Germany. In the footage, Riyadh claims he is a “soldier of the caliphate.”

The Telegraph quotes the IS-linked Amaq news agency as saying, “The perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in answer to the calls to target the countries of the coalition fighting the Islamic State.”

It was reportedly Amaq that later released the video footage it claims shows Riyadh threatening to attack “infidel” countries. Authorities in Germany have since authenticated that video.

According to Joachim Herrmann, interior minister of Bavaria, locals had described the Afghan refugee as “calm and even-keeled” and a “devout Muslim who did not appear to be radical or a fanatic.”

Herrmann said at the time of the attack that there was no evidence pointing to him belonging to the Islamist network.

However, the attacker shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) three times as he made his way through the carriage, and an eyewitness said the train, which had been carrying around 25 people, looked “like a slaughterhouse,” with blood covering the floor after the axe attack.

This reportedly wasn’t the first attack on a Bavarian train. Back in May, a mentally-unstable 27-year-old man killed one person and injured three others with a knife on a regional train. While initial reports stated he had yelled “Allahu akbar,” police later said there was no evidence pointing to a political or terror link, and the suspect is being held in a psychiatric hospital.

Back in February, a 15-year-old Turkish girl reportedly stabbed a policeman in the neck with a kitchen knife at Hanover train station in what was later described as an IS-inspired attack.

Bavarian politicians have reportedly been vocal against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s welcoming stance towards refugees. However, Herrmann has warned against tarring all asylum seekers with the same brush.

“It is undisputed that he was a refugee and if he hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have committed this act. But I don’t think that we should make blanket judgments in any way about refugees.”

[Photo via Flickr by Karl Goessmann, cropped and resized/CC BY-ND 2.0 – Inset screen capture from video]

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