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https://next.ft.com/content/5edf2c64-5bde-11e6-bb77-a121aa8abd95
Global terror
German attackers directed by Isis contacts in Saudi
Reports suggest close Isis involvement in recent attacks in Germany
11 hours ago
by: Guy Chazan in Berlin
Comments 39
The two refugees who launched terror attacks in Germany last month were in contact with suspected members of the militant group Isis, including one with a Saudi phone number, according to reports in the German media on Saturday.
Records of internet communication now in the hands of German investigators show both men, the Afghan teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, and Mohammed Daleel, a 27-year-old Syrian, were advised and directed by Isis, which provided tips on ensuring the maximum number of casualties.
Ahmadzai was shot dead by police after going on the rampage with an axe and a knife near the Bavarian town of Würzburg on July 18, wounding five people, while Daleel died after blowing himself up outside a wine bar in Ansbach, also in Bavaria, six days later, injuring 15 people.
Germany is still reeling from the attacks, the first committed by Muslim refugees who were part of the big wave of migrants that has entered the country over the past few years.
They have become a problem for Angela Merkel, Germany's long-serving chancellor, whose popularity has taken a big knock in the wake of the attacks.
A poll published by ARD-Deutschlandtrend on Thursday showed her approval rating dropped 12 percentage points to 47 per cent this month.
Ms Merkel insists she will not deviate from her open-door refugee policy, despite repeated calls for a rethink from the CSU, sister party to her CDU. The ARD poll showed that about two-thirds of Germans are unsatisfied with the policy.
German media — including news magazine Der Spiegel and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung — said Ahmadzai had been in contact with an Isis member shortly before he launched his attack aboard a train near Würzburg.
He had suggested the teenager drive a car into a crowd, much like Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the 31-year-old Tunisian who had killed 85 people in Nice four days earlier. But the teenager said he could not drive. His contact allegedly replied: "You should learn. The damage would be a lot greater". Instead, Ahmadzai said he would board a train and attack the first passengers he saw.
The Sueddeutsche said Daleel sent a picture of the site of the open air concert in Ansbach that he planned to attack to his Isis contact, who reportedly lives in Saudi Arabia, saying: "This area will be full of people." The contact replied: "Kill them all."
Sueddeutsche quoted from an analysis of the two attacks by the Bundeskriminalamt, Germany's Federal Criminal Office, which said they showed jihadi social networks were "not only capable of motivating volunteers through the use of general propaganda, but also of actually advising and instructing them".
The paper said Ahmadzai was in touch with his Isis contact just before he launched his axe-and-knife attack, saying he was waiting for the train. The contact promised he would send a video the teenager had filmed of himself brandishing a knife and pledging to kill "infidels" to the "centre", and that Isis would claim responsibility for the attack. Ahmadzai had filmed footage a few days earlier in his foster home in the small Bavarian town of Ochsenfurt, according to the reports.
Meanwhile, Spiegel reported that investigators believe Daleel's death may have been an accident. He reportedly intended to leave his rucksack, packed with explosives, in a crowd of people at the music festival and detonate it remotely. Shortly before the bomb exploded, his handler had told him to film the blast and its aftermath and send the footage to Isis. But according to Spiegel the bomb exploded prematurely, killing Daleel and injuring 15 people.
The magazine said Daleel clearly intended to carry out further attacks, since investigators found more bomb-making material in his flat. Also, in the video message claiming responsibility for Ansbach he appeared with his face covered.
Posted for fair use.....
https://next.ft.com/content/5edf2c64-5bde-11e6-bb77-a121aa8abd95
Global terror
German attackers directed by Isis contacts in Saudi
Reports suggest close Isis involvement in recent attacks in Germany
11 hours ago
by: Guy Chazan in Berlin
Comments 39
The two refugees who launched terror attacks in Germany last month were in contact with suspected members of the militant group Isis, including one with a Saudi phone number, according to reports in the German media on Saturday.
Records of internet communication now in the hands of German investigators show both men, the Afghan teenager Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, and Mohammed Daleel, a 27-year-old Syrian, were advised and directed by Isis, which provided tips on ensuring the maximum number of casualties.
Ahmadzai was shot dead by police after going on the rampage with an axe and a knife near the Bavarian town of Würzburg on July 18, wounding five people, while Daleel died after blowing himself up outside a wine bar in Ansbach, also in Bavaria, six days later, injuring 15 people.
Germany is still reeling from the attacks, the first committed by Muslim refugees who were part of the big wave of migrants that has entered the country over the past few years.
They have become a problem for Angela Merkel, Germany's long-serving chancellor, whose popularity has taken a big knock in the wake of the attacks.
A poll published by ARD-Deutschlandtrend on Thursday showed her approval rating dropped 12 percentage points to 47 per cent this month.
Ms Merkel insists she will not deviate from her open-door refugee policy, despite repeated calls for a rethink from the CSU, sister party to her CDU. The ARD poll showed that about two-thirds of Germans are unsatisfied with the policy.
German media — including news magazine Der Spiegel and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung — said Ahmadzai had been in contact with an Isis member shortly before he launched his attack aboard a train near Würzburg.
He had suggested the teenager drive a car into a crowd, much like Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the 31-year-old Tunisian who had killed 85 people in Nice four days earlier. But the teenager said he could not drive. His contact allegedly replied: "You should learn. The damage would be a lot greater". Instead, Ahmadzai said he would board a train and attack the first passengers he saw.
The Sueddeutsche said Daleel sent a picture of the site of the open air concert in Ansbach that he planned to attack to his Isis contact, who reportedly lives in Saudi Arabia, saying: "This area will be full of people." The contact replied: "Kill them all."
Sueddeutsche quoted from an analysis of the two attacks by the Bundeskriminalamt, Germany's Federal Criminal Office, which said they showed jihadi social networks were "not only capable of motivating volunteers through the use of general propaganda, but also of actually advising and instructing them".
The paper said Ahmadzai was in touch with his Isis contact just before he launched his axe-and-knife attack, saying he was waiting for the train. The contact promised he would send a video the teenager had filmed of himself brandishing a knife and pledging to kill "infidels" to the "centre", and that Isis would claim responsibility for the attack. Ahmadzai had filmed footage a few days earlier in his foster home in the small Bavarian town of Ochsenfurt, according to the reports.
Meanwhile, Spiegel reported that investigators believe Daleel's death may have been an accident. He reportedly intended to leave his rucksack, packed with explosives, in a crowd of people at the music festival and detonate it remotely. Shortly before the bomb exploded, his handler had told him to film the blast and its aftermath and send the footage to Isis. But according to Spiegel the bomb exploded prematurely, killing Daleel and injuring 15 people.
The magazine said Daleel clearly intended to carry out further attacks, since investigators found more bomb-making material in his flat. Also, in the video message claiming responsibility for Ansbach he appeared with his face covered.
