A 26-year-old Syrian who was arrested in connection with two stabbings in Duisburg, Germany, which left one dead, is suspected of a double “Islamic” knife attack. The federal prosecutor’s office reported this on Friday.
The man is suspected of having committed a knife attack in a fitness center on April 18 that injured four people. One of them was in serious condition.
In addition, he also allegedly stabbed a man to death on Easter, less than a kilometer from the fitness center. According to ‘Der Spiegel’ he tried to behead the victim. DNA of the 35-year-old fatal victim and one of the injured in the fitness center was found on a shoe of the suspect.
The motive of the suspected perpetrator was initially unclear, but there are “indications of an Islamist motive”, a spokesperson reports to ‘Der Spiegel’. The public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf, which was initially charged with the investigation, had already reported an “Islamic” motive on Tuesday.
The case will be taken over by the Karlsruhe Federal Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for the most complex cases in Germany, including terrorism cases.
The suspect, about whom no details have yet been released, has so far remained silent.
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