27-yo Syrian refugee behind Ansbach blast previously attempted suicide

Bavarian authorities have announced that the suspected suicide bomber, who was killed in the Ansbach explosion, had been a 27-year-old Syrian whose asylum request was rejected last year. The motive behind the attack, which injured 12 people, remains unknown.

The attacker was a 27-year-old Syrian who had entered the country about 2 years ago, but was refused asylum, Bavarian authorities told a press conference. His application was rejected a year ago but the man was allowed to stay in Germany temporarily, due to ongoing hostilities in Syria.

Police say they do not yet known if the attacker had any radical Islamist background. The investigations is currently focused on attacker’s communications.

The suspect lived abroad in a hotel in Ansbach, the minister said. He had tried to commit suicide two times and was previously housed in a psychiatric hospital. In the coming days, the investigation will focus on establishing whether the man acted with suicidal intent, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told journalists.

So far, the investigation has found no evidence of an attempted political assassination or extremism, but such a possibility cannot be ruled out. The type of explosives detonated has not yet been established, but Hermann said that “metal parts” were apparently used in the improvised device.

A jihadist link cannot be excluded either, the minister said, since the presence of metal parts in the bomb indicates that the suspect had aimed to hurt as many people as possible.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees will reveal why the suspect’s asylum application had previously been rejected later in the day Herrmann noted that those who are “seeking protection in Germany, must show full respect for the German legal system and the German population.”

The minister added that the attack demonstrated the need "to strengthen controls on those we have living in our country".

Following a press conference, Herrmann told Germany’s DPA, that he personally considers the bombing in Ansbach to have been the work of an Islamist suicide bomber.

"My personal opinion is that, unfortunately I think, it is very obvious that there has been a real Islamist suicide attack here," Herrmann said early Monday.