Motive in German train attack still unclear, say prosecutors
Police and forensic experts investigating an attack on several passengers of a high-speed ICE train on July 3, near the village of Strasskirchen, in Germany's Bavaria region.
BERLIN - German prosecutors said on July 4 they had not yet determined a motive for a violent attack on a high-speed train but added that tests had revealed the suspect had had drugs in his system.
On July 3,
four people were injured in the attack, with a 20-year-old Syrian man being arrested at the scene.
The suspect is alleged to have used a hammer and an axe during the attack, which took place on a high-speed service passed through the southern German state of Bavaria on its way from Hamburg to the Austrian capital Vienna.
The chief prosecutor for the city of Regensburg, Mr Thomas Rauscher, told a press conference on July 4 that 'as of now the motive is an open question' and added that 'we cannot confirm or rule out an extremist or terrorist motive'.
One witness said they had seen him praying and saying 'Allahu Akbar' around the time of the attack but this had not been confirmed, he added.
Mr Stefan Schillinger, chief of police in the town of Straubing, said that tests had shown that 'the suspect definitely had drugs in his system', although it was still being determined exactly which substances these were.
Mr Schillinger said the 20-year-old had already attracted the attention of other passengers for unusual behaviour and attacked a 38-year-old German man 'who wanted to raise the alarm'.
This first victim received a head injury before the suspect allegedly went on to attack a Syrian woman and her two sons, aged 24 and 15, Mr Schillinger said.
Mr Rauscher said that the elder son had managed to grab the hammer and then struck back at the suspect in self-defence.
The suspect was seriously injured and is now being treated in hospital.
The Austrian interior ministry said on July 4 that the suspect arrived in Austria as a minor and had been accorded refugee protection in 2022.
However, this year he was convicted of bodily harm and obstruction of justice and a procedure was underway to strip him of his asylum status.
The attack occurred on the same day that Austria's Interior Minister Gerhard Karner announced that it had deported a convicted criminal back to Syria, the first EU country to do so in recent years. AFP
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