The attack in Würzburg was apparently Islamistically motivated. The Somali Jibril A. said during police questioning that he had carried out his “jihad”, security circles told the newspaper Tagesspiegel on Saturday. Jihad means the holy war against infidels.
The 24-year-old man had taken a larger knife from the shelf in a department store in Würzburg on Friday afternoon and stabbed three people. While doing so, he allegedly shouted “Allahu akbar”, “God is greater”. On the street, Jibril A. continued the attack and injured ten passers-by. Several eyewitnesses tried to stop the Somali, at least one chair flew in his direction. The police then stopped Jibril A. with a shot in one leg and arrested him.
If the suspicion of an attack is confirmed, it would be the worst Islamist attack since the attack by Anis Amri in Berlin in December 2016. The Tunisian had hijacked a truck and crashed into the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz square. Twelve people died and more than 60 were injured. In the other Islamist attacks in Germany, no more than two people were killed.
However, the security authorities also assume that Jibril A. is mentally disturbed. The Somali had only recently been committed to a psychiatric ward for an act of violence, but was quickly released. Presumably, the Islamist conviction was a religious justification for Jibril A. himself to act as violently as he wanted to do anyway, said a security expert.
He compared the Würzburg case to the attack by a mentally disturbed Palestinian in Hamburg. The man had killed using a knife in a supermarket in July 2017 and injured five other customers. After his arrest, the perpetrator said he had wanted to kill as many Germans of Christian faith as possible. The Higher Regional Court sentenced the perpetrator to life imprisonment and certified him as being particularly guilty.
However, security sources also refer to the Somali’s biography in the Würzburg case, in which there are possible points of contact to Islamist terror. After entering Germany in 2015, Jibril A. stated in his asylum proceedings that he had been forced to join the Somali terrorist militia Al Shabaab. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated proceedings against the man, but then passed it on to a General Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bavaria. However, the latter dropped the investigation.
Jibril A. was considered one of the asylum seekers who put themselves under suspicion of terrorism in order to be able to stay in Germany. Numerous Afghans have claimed, for example, to have been recruited by the Taliban against their will. Many cases are dropped because the refugees’ statements cannot be verified. Jibril A. was granted temporary subsidiary protection in Germany as a refugee.