Isil video shows alleged axe attacker vowing martyrdom
A VIDEO has emerged purporting to show the teenage Afghan refugee who attacked passengers on a German train with an axe, threatening to attack “infidel” countries.
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) yesterday released what it claimed was a video of the 17-year-old in which he vows to carry out a suicide attack in Germany.
The teenager was shot dead by police after he injured five people on Monday night. One is still in critical condition.
Police police found a home-made Isil flag and what appeared to be a farewell letter to the boy’s father in his room at a German foster family’s home.
German authorities said they believed the teen may have “self-radicalised” while living in the country.
Isil named the attacker as Mohammed Riyad. His identity has not been officially released in Germany, but local media have named him as Riaz A.
Bavarian police said the authenticity of the video was being checked.
Detectives believe a phone call on Friday in which the teen learned a close friend had been killed in Afghanistan may have played a key role in subsequent events.
This phone call appears to have made a “lasting impression” on the teen, Lothar Köhler of the Bavarian CID told a press conference. Police found his mobile phone near the scene of the incident and it shows he made extensive calls the next day.
Police also found an exercise book in which the teen appeared to have translated passage from Islamic scripture into Pashto in his room. One of the passages read: “And now pray for me that I can take revenge on these infidels and pray for me that I’m going to paradise.”
Officers fired warning shots before shooting the teen dead, Mr Köhler said. He was wearing a white T-shirt with a logo that resembled the Isil flag at the time of the attack.
The teen first arrived in Germany on June 30 last year, several months before Angela Merkel’s “open-door” refugee policy came into force.
In the alleged video of him released by Isil’s Amaq online news agency, he says: “I am a soldier of the Caliphate. I will carry out a martyr attack in Germany. The time has come.” He claims the attack is revenge against the international anti-Isil coalition.