3 seriously injured in ax attack on German train

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

An Afghan refugee attacked train passengers in southern Germany with an ax in “revenge” for deaths in his home country, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The 17-year-old was killed by police after wounding five people, three of them seriously, in an attack in Wurzburg on Monday evening.

“The accused is strongly suspected of attempting to kill passengers with a preconceived plan to take revenge for what unbelievers did to his Muslim brothers, sisters and children,” Bavarian Chief Prosecutor Erik Ohlenschlager said at a news conference in Wurzburg.

The teenager learned on Saturday that a close friend had been killed in Afghanistan, Ohlenschlager said, adding that police found a notebook in his room that included a farewell letter and a hand-drawn Daesh flag.

“Up to the present time we have no indication that he had ties to Daesh,” the prosecutor added.

The attack was claimed by Daesh through the Amaq media outlet linked to the terror group, which said he was “a soldier of the Islamic State”.

Officials said the boy entered Germany two years ago, did not have a criminal record and was not known to the intelligence services.