Investigators say that Würzburg attacker may not have been Afghan

Doubts have been cast on the origins of the ax attacker on a commuter train in Würzburg. Investigators are now following clues pointing to Pakistan.

News organizations had widely reported that the Würzburg assailant had come to Germany from Afghanistan; however, investigators said they had found clues pointing at Pakistan, including documents from Pakistan found at his place of residence.
According to officials speaking on the German national broadcaster ZDF, the assailant may have claimed that he had emigrated from Afghanistan in order to better his chances of being granted refugee status in Germany. He had also stated that he was 17 years old, which may also have been incorrect.
In a video recorded before the event, the assailant had confessed that he was about to carry out the attack speaking in a Pashtu dialect, which experts say clearly identified his origins as Pakistani. In addition to cues found in his overall pronunciation, certain terms used in his recording, including "suicide," "military," and "governments" unequivocally referred to Pakistani terminology, according to the Reuters news agency.

The ax attacker recorded a video in his native Pashtu language, which experts say featured a dialect pointing at Pakistan

Investigators also added that the attacker's name as identified by the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) militant group was different from his name registered in Germany. The assailant had pledged allegiance to the terror organization before carrying out the attack. He is, however, regarded as self-radicalized, as no direct links could be established between him and IS.
Authorities still assume Afghan origin
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen, agreed that there were questions about the origins of the assailant.
However, despite this assessment, the interior minister of the federal state of Bavaria, Joachim Herrmann, said investigators were still working under the assumption that the attacker came from
Afghanistan, adding that the video was deemed to be real despite the discrepancies in terms of linguistic cues presented in it.

Hans-Georg Maassen, president of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, warned that the attack could result in a backlash against refugees

"Our findings indicate that he repeatedly used the same name and the same place of birth in Afghanistan, including at the border control in Passau, the district office in Würzburg and the Central Register of Foreigners," a ministry spokesperson told DPA news agency.
Experts warn of backlash against refugees
Maassen stressed that there was a real danger of an increase in negative sentiments against refugees after the attack. He added that it was IS' intention to spread fear and terror with such attacks. A representative from the Federal Association for Unaccompanied Minor Refugees, Niels Espenhorst, meanwhile said that following the attack, refugee minors were at risk of being ostracized and alienated.
"We have to warn people not to place unaccompanied minor refugees as a group under a general sense suspicion of being terrorists," Espenhorst said.
The head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, also warned that the intention of the assailant was to spark growing division in Germany over the integration of foreigners and the reception of refugees.
"We have to do everything (in our power) to prevent him from succeeding," Mazyek said, adding that he was praying for the full and speedy recovery of those injured in the attack.
The Würzburg attacker was shot and killed by police after injuring five people on a commuter train earlier in the week. Two of the victims of the attack remain in a critical condition, according to local police sources. All but one of the victims reportedly came from Hong Kong.
ss/kms (AFP, Reuters, dpa, epd, KNA)
source.Dw