Syrian suicide bomber injures 12 in Germany attack

A DOZEN civilians have been seriously wounded following a suicide bombing in the centre of the German town of Ansbach, with the Syrian assailant originally targeting a nearby music festival.

The 27-year-old asylum seeker had attempted to gain entrance to the Ansbach open music festival carrying a backpack containing metal and explosive material, but was turned away on Sunday evening at 10pm.

Investigators remain in the dark as to the man’s precise motivations but he had a history of suicide attempts and was denied asylum in Germany one year ago, allowed to remain in the country until Syria became safer.

After being rejected from the festival, which saw 2,000 people in attendance and was later cancelled, the man travelled to the town centre where he detonated the device at a wine bar in the early hours of Monday morning.

 “An explosion went off in the city centre and a man, which the latest inquiries show caused it, was killed in the event,” said a police spokesman.

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann told press that a terrorist motivation could not be ruled out, adding “It’s terrible … that someone who came into our country to seek shelter has now committed such a heinous act and injured a large number of people who are at home here, some seriously,”

“It’s a further, horrific attack that will increase the already growing security concerns of our citizens. We must do everything possible to prevent the spread of such violence in our country by people who came here to ask for asylum.”

It was the second attack perpetrated by an asylum-seeker in Bavaria over the weekend, following Friday’s tragic shooting rampage at a Munich shopping centre which saw nine people killed, and the third including last week’s axe attack on a train near Wurzberg, which saw five injured and the gunman shot dead by police.