Following the failed attack on a police station in Linz am Rhein (photo), investigators have discovered evidence of radical Islamist motivation. A 29-year-old Albanian man stormed the police station in the Rhineland-Palatinate town at 2.40 a.m. with a machete and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’, the Koblenz public prosecutor’s office reported.
‘As part of the ongoing search measures in the flat, a flag of the terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ drawn on a wall was discovered.’ The State Centre for Combating Terrorism and Extremism took over the investigation ‘for attempted murder by attack with a machete’.
The attempted murder of the migrant on Friday morning was apparently only prevented by a security gate. The 29-year-old stormed the police station and threatened to ‘kill the police officers’, according to police spokesman Jürgen Fachinger.
However, only the first of the two doors opened. The officers had to press a button to open the second. And they did not. On the contrary: they also closed the first door in this way, so that the attacker was trapped between the two doors.
All of the officers’ appeals over the intercom to make the attacker realise his hopeless situation were to no avail. The migrant continued to make violent threats and was extremely aggressive.
The Linz police officers then called the Special Forces from Koblenz for help. The special unit stormed the security gate two hours later. They incapacitated the migrant with a Taser and arrested him. The Albanian was slightly injured in the process, according to the police spokesperson. The man is in custody. The public prosecutor’s office will decide later today whether to apply for an arrest warrant.