Suspected terrorist assault: Many photographs, many clues and lots of unanswered questions | EUROtoday

Suspected terrorist assault
Many photographs, many clues and lots of unanswered questions

After the suspected terrorist assault in Munich, investigators are wanting into proof of an Islamist or anti-Semitic motive. Based on the knowledge accessible up to now, that is the “working hypothesis,” mentioned Gabriele Tilmann, head of the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET) on the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office. Messages from the 18-year-old shooter from Austria with proof of a motive haven’t but been discovered.

The motive is clearer within the case of an assault on a police station in Linz in Rhineland-Palatinate early on Friday morning. According to investigators, this assault was motivated by Islamist motives. According to investigators, a person armed with a machete and a knife appeared on the police station at 2:40 a.m. and repeatedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”). He additionally introduced that he needed to kill law enforcement officials. The man was overpowered and no law enforcement officials have been injured. The 29-year-old is in custody on suspicion of tried homicide. Investigators discovered a flag of the terrorist group Islamic State drawn on the wall in his house.

Executions reenacted with online game avatar

According to Tilmann, the idea for the investigators' working speculation within the Munich case is, on the one hand, the findings of Austrian authorities. The 18-year-old is claimed to have reenacted executions in a online game utilizing created avatars, mentioned the vp of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA), Guido Limmer. When the younger man was investigated final yr, materials was discovered on him that indicated sympathy with the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Whether he nonetheless had this sympathy or whether or not he sympathized with IS is at the moment unclear, mentioned Tilmann.

On the opposite hand, in accordance with investigators, the place and time level to such a motive: the perpetrator shot on the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli Consulate General in Munich on the anniversary of the 1972 Olympic assault.

According to info from the Austrian Interior Ministry, the daddy of the Munich attacker had perceived his son as having psychological issues. He was an clever scholar who had turn out to be a loner through the pandemic, it was mentioned. At college, he had been confronted with taunts and teasing.

Shots fired at Nazi Documentation Center and Israeli Consulate

The 18-year-old is claimed to have fired a complete of 9 photographs along with his Swiss Wehrmacht carbine – first at buildings, together with the Nazi Documentation Center and the neighboring Israeli Consulate General, which was closed on the time of the assault. Later, he apparently additionally shot at law enforcement officials. “The colleagues noticed a shot being fired at them. Of course, we have to find out in detail where exactly he was aiming,” mentioned the pinnacle of operations of the Munich police, Christian Huber.

The police ultimately shot the 18-year-old down with numerous photographs. A police officer and a lady suffered acoustic trauma, and the attacker died on the spot. The officers concerned are being cared for, in accordance with a police assertion. The State Criminal Police Office is conducting routine investigations into the legality of the police capturing.

Carbine acquired from collector

The shooter had purchased his weapon from a collector simply at some point earlier than the assault, in accordance with Austria's Director General for Public Security, Franz Ruf. According to the LKA, the carbine with a mounted bayonet dates again to the nineteenth century. However, operations supervisor Huber emphasised that it was a “weapon with massive penetrating power.”

According to General Director Ruf, the 18-year-old had additionally purchased round 50 rounds of ammunition for the carbine – though he was really banned from proudly owning weapons in Austria on account of earlier investigations and suspicions of radicalization. But carbines are thought-about Category C weapons there, that are reloaded manually after every shot: They will be bought with no weapons doc and solely must be registered with the authorities as much as six weeks after buy.

Bavarian police had no details about the shooter

Austrian investigators had not discovered any proof of radicalization or Islamist propaganda, however at the least that they had the 18-year-old on their radar. In Bavaria, however, the younger man with Bosnian roots was a clean slate for the state police till the capturing on the consulate. A question of the databases on the 18-year-old Austrian was damaging, mentioned a spokesman for the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA). “We had no documents on him.”

According to the Munich Attorney General's Office, the investigation is now specializing in the one hand on the beforehand suspected motive, however however additionally on the query of whether or not there might need been accomplices, helpers or at the least individuals who knew about it. One query is whether or not the 18-year-old was concerned in some form of community, mentioned ZET director Tilmann.

18-year-old additionally fired at neighboring buildings

With the Israeli Consulate General and the Nazi Documentation Center as attainable targets of the alleged assault, the course of occasions additionally raises questions. Police descriptions point out how amateurishly the person had apparently deliberate his crime. The 18-year-old additionally shot at neighboring buildings. He additionally entered two buildings, injuring himself and leaving a path of blood. He tried to climb a fence to the Israeli Consulate General from a car, however was unable to beat it.

The shooter in all probability realized early on that his unique plan might be thwarted: a passing patrol had noticed him as he acquired out of his automobile on Thursday morning and reported that he might need a weapon with him. A short while later, the 18-year-old was useless.

dpa