Germany Violence Frenzy: Syrian Blows Himself Up, Another Goes on Knife-Wielding Attack

Local Editor

A failed Syrian asylum seeker has blown himself up and injured 12 other people with a backpack bomb near a festival in the south German town of Ansbach, while another refugee from Syria killed one woman and injured five in the city of Reutlingen in southwest Germany.

The state of Bavaria's interior minister said the 27-year-old man had detonated the device after being refused entry to the music festival.

About 2,500 people were evacuated from the venue after the explosion.

The Ansbach blast is reported to have happened at about 22:10 [20:10 GMT] in the center of the town, which has a population of 40,000 and is home to a US military base.

The bomb went off close to the entrance to the Ansbach Open music festival.

Three of the injured were in a serious condition, police said.

Security services had sealed off the city center and experts are trying to establish the kind of explosives the bomber used.

The Syrian man entered Germany two years ago and had his asylum claim rejected a year ago, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said.

He had been given leave to stay temporarily given the situation in his home country and provided with an apartment in Ansbach, Herrmann added.

The minister said he was "incensed" by the attack which, he said, demonstrated the need to "strengthen controls on those we have living in our country".

Herrmann said the man had been known to have tried to take his own life twice and had spent time in a psychiatric clinic.

"We don't know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others," he said.

However, he added that the bomb in the backpack would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people.

Ansbach deputy police Chief Roman Fertinger said there were "indications" that pieces of metal had been added to the explosive device.

Witness Thomas Debinski said there was "panic" after the explosion, although some people thought it was caused by a gas explosion.

"Then people came past and said it was a rucksack that had exploded," he told Sky News.

"After what just happened in Munich it's very disturbing to think what can happen so close to you in such a small town."

Separately, an attacker has allegedly killed one woman and injured five in the city of Reutlingen in southwest Germany, according to local police. Officials had confirmed the man was arrested after a citizen hit him with a car.

The knife-wielding attacker sparked panic after killing a woman near a Turkish fast-food kiosk in downtown Reutlingen.

Five people were reportedly wounded in the attack and brought to the hospital. Two women, ages 51 and 54-years-old, suffered head wounds while another 51-year-old sustained a forearm injury. Another woman and a man were also hospitalized for shock.

A car driver spotted the attacker running away from the scene and hit him with his vehicle, allowing police to grab hold of the suspect and make an arrest, according to a police spokesman.

Police stated that the suspect is a 21-year-old male refugee from Syria who is known to authorities for previous acts of violence. The suspect suffered serious injuries and will undergo police questioning after receiving medical treatment.

The alleged perpetrator was reported to have been arguing with the deceased woman before attacking her. Authorities believe the man acted alone.

Local police said they currently had "no indication" that the attack was in fact a terror strike and are still looking for a motive.

Bavaria has been on edge since a knife rampage on a train claimed by Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] Takfiri last Monday.

In that attack, in Wuerzburg, an axe-wielding Afghan asylum seeker teenager was shot dead after injuring five people.

A shooting rampage in the state capital, Munich, on Friday left nine people dead but police are not treating it as a terrorist attack.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team