Muslim migrant attacks innocent civilians in Germany

Only days after a Moroccan Muslim migrant was arrested by the Mossos d’Esquadra from Spanish city Catalonia, who, after being self-radicalized, planned to travel to Syria prior to committing jihadist massacre in Spain, another incident of mass-stabbing by a Muslim migrant took place in Germany.

According to media reports, a Muslim migrant went on mass stabbing targeting several passers-by neat the railway station in Ansbach, Germany. The perpetrator chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is great’) slogan while committing such gruesome crime. After an attack on several passers-by with two injured, a man near the train station in Ansbach was shot by the police and fatally injured.

On September 8, 2022 around 6 pm police had to use firearms. According to the police, the alleged attacker was injured so badly that he died on the spot despite immediate resuscitation measures.

So far, the investigators have no indication of a terrorist or extremist motive for the attacker. That said the President of the Central Franconia Police Headquarters, Roman Fertinger, at a press conference on Friday. The investigators assume that he acted alone, as the head of the Ansbach Criminal Police Inspectorate, Criminal Director Dieter Hegwein, said. He added that the police have not yet found any information that points to politically or religiously motivated crimes by the suspect.

The attacker had been rejected as an asylum seeker in Germany. The 30-year-old Afghan only had a toleration status that would have expired in a week, said the head of the police investigation, Dieter Hegwein.

According to Hegwein, the man had multiple criminal records. Five bodily injuries, one sexual offense and one violation of the Narcotics Act were registered. During the search of his surroundings, among other things, antidepressants were secured, said Hegwein.

Police sources said, the man had attacked several passers-by south of the station and injured a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old with at least one knife. According to the police, several alarmed patrol crews managed to stop the man. When he attacked the officers, the police used firearms. The two injured passers-by were not in mortal danger, according to the police. The police officers were not injured.

The attacker knelt on the boy, held two knives in his hands and tried to injure the youth, police said. A 20-year-old who happened to pass by immediately threw himself on the attacker. That was the only way the attack could not continue.

The crime scene was cordoned off for forensic measures. Police called on witnesses to what happened to come forward.

Earlier a terrorist attack took place in Spain.

According to the investigations conducted by the General Information Commission (CGINF) of Mossos d’Esquadra, the person was arrested on September 2, 2022 as he entered the Center d’Internament d’Estrangers (CIE) in Barcelona.

He is accused of a crime of self-radicalization and terrorist indoctrination, as detailed by the Mossos d’Esquadra in a press release dated September 5.

According to ElNacional.cat, the self-radicalized jihadist born in 1988 is of Moroccan nationality.

Last May, a grenade from the civil war was found in an occupied home in Empuriabrava, in the Alt Empordà region. At first the explosives disposal specialists of the Catalan police took charge of the device, but the investigation continued by Information agents to find out who were the people who legally occupied this house.

Following investigation by the law enforcement agencies in Spain, identity of the person who bought the grenade was revealed. Investigators were also able to find out that the man had become more aggressive and had publicly made proclamations in favor of armed struggle and jihadist terrorist organizations. The Mossos d’Esquadra had been able to intercept messages in which he assured that he intended to leave Catalonia to go to a conflict zone, but not before committing a violent act in Spain.

The man who intended to commit the attack was a compulsive consumer of jihadist propaganda and took advantage of social networks to share it with other people, one of the facts that also helped Mossos d’Esquadra investigators to be alert. The man arrested in Alt Empordà was highly radicalized and used his contacts to spread jihadist propaganda and encourage other people to commit attacks against citizens, in Catalan territory and abroad.

Considering the level of instability presented by the man, who had access to weapons, the Mossos d’Esquadra followed him exhaustively, 24 hours a day, until this past September 2, when he could be arrested.

The Moroccan Muslim migrant was in an advanced process of radicalization with conviction and the intention to attack Catalonia. The investigation has been coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court and supervised by the Central Court of Inquiry number 1 of Madrid. The detainee has entered the Foreigners’ Internment Center (CIE), pending deportation proceedings for national security.

The Mossos d’Esquadra arrested two people at the beginning of the summer in Mòra d’Ebre and Vespella de Gaià, who had shown attitudes favorable to jihadist terrorism, after having self-radicalized at home. At the same time, the National Police also arrested, this summer, a person who, after returning from Syria, intended to commit attacks in Spain.

During the recent years, threats of jihadist attacks in European countries have significantly increased as thousands of illegal migrants have succeeded to enter various countries in Europe. Amongst the European countries, Italy, France, Germany was already maintaining high-alert about jihadist activities of the Muslim migrants, while the latest cases in Spain evidently prove, elements of jihadism have also entered that country.

Commenting on the risk posed by Muslim migrants in the European nations, counterterrorism experts told this correspondent that those countries need to adopt effective measures in “anyhow” stopping the inflow of illegal migrants. At the same time, while issuing visas (tourist, business and immigrant visas), embassies of Western countries need to follow strict rules and properly check backgrounds of the visa seekers especially if they had past background of having any connections with Islamist or jihadist groups. Prior to issuing visas, it is also essential to determine that these visa-seekers are not from madrassa education background.