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Ansbach explosion: Syrian asylum seeker blows himself up in Germany | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A failed Syrian asylum seeker has blown himself up and injured 12 other people with a backpack bomb near a festival in the south German town of Ansbach. | |
The state of Bavaria's interior minister said the 27-year-old man had detonated the device after being refused entry to the music festival. | |
About 2,500 people were evacuated from the venue after the explosion. | About 2,500 people were evacuated from the venue after the explosion. |
Bavaria has been on edge since a knife rampage on a train claimed by so-called Islamic State last Monday. | |
In that attack, in Wuerzburg, an axe-wielding Afghan asylum seeker teenager was shot dead after injuring five people. | |
A shooting rampage in the state capital, Munich, on Friday left nine people dead but police are not treating it as a terrorist attack. | |
The Ansbach blast is reported to have happened at about 22:10 (20:10 GMT) outside the Eugens Weinstube bar in the centre of the town, which has a population of 40,000 and is home to a US military base. | |
The bomb went off close to the entrance to the Ansbach Open music festival. | |
Three of the injured were in a serious condition, police said. | |
Security services have sealed off the city centre and experts are trying to establish the kind of explosives the bomber used. | Security services have sealed off the city centre and experts are trying to establish the kind of explosives the bomber used. |
The Syrian man entered Germany two years ago and had his asylum claim rejected a year ago, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said. | |
He had been given leave to stay temporarily given the situation in his home country and provided with an apartment in Ansbach, Mr Herrmann added. | He had been given leave to stay temporarily given the situation in his home country and provided with an apartment in Ansbach, Mr Herrmann added. |
The minister said he was "incensed" by the attack which, he said, demonstrated the need to "strengthen controls on those we have living in our country". | |
Mr Herrmann said the man had been known to have tried to take his own life twice and had spent time in a psychiatric clinic. | |
"We don't know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others," he said. | "We don't know if this man planned on suicide or if he had the intention of killing others," he said. |
However, he added that the bomb in the backpack would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people. | However, he added that the bomb in the backpack would have been sufficient to kill and injure many more people. |
Ansbach deputy police chief Roman Fertinger said there were "indications" that pieces of metal had been added to the explosive device. | Ansbach deputy police chief Roman Fertinger said there were "indications" that pieces of metal had been added to the explosive device. |
Witness Thomas Debinski said there was "panic" after the explosion, although some people thought it was caused by a gas explosion. | Witness Thomas Debinski said there was "panic" after the explosion, although some people thought it was caused by a gas explosion. |
"Then people came past and said it was a rucksack that had exploded," he told Sky News. | "Then people came past and said it was a rucksack that had exploded," he told Sky News. |
"After what just happened in Munich it's very disturbing to think what can happen so close to you in such a small town." | "After what just happened in Munich it's very disturbing to think what can happen so close to you in such a small town." |
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