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CRIME

Cologne hostage drama ‘likely a terrorist act’: prosecutors

German federal prosecutors took over the investigation into an arson attack and hostage-taking at Cologne's train station Wednesday, saying there were enough indications to suggest a terrorist motive.

Published: 17 October 2018 16:21 CEST
Cologne hostage drama 'likely a terrorist act': prosecutors
Passers-by stand in front of the pharmacy in Cologne Hauptbahnhof. Photo: DPA

A Syrian refugee, identified only as Mohammad A.R., sparked panic at the busy station on Monday after he started a fire in a McDonald's restaurant that left a 14-year-old girl with burns.

He then took a female employee hostage in a nearby pharmacy.

Heavily armed police opened fire on the 55-year-old suspect, who underwent emergency surgery and remains in a coma.

“Based on what we know so far, there are sufficient indications to suggest a radical Islamist background to this act,” federal prosecutors said in a statement after taking over the probe from local prosecutors.

In Germany, terrorist cases are dealt with by federal prosecutors. The accused made several demands by phone during the hostage negotiations, they said, including being allowed to travel to Syria to join the Islamic 
State terror group.

Eyewitnesses have also said they heard the suspect say he belonged to IS and wanted to join the jihadist fighters in his native country.

The accused faces two counts of attempted murder and one charge of causing grievous bodily harm, the prosecutors added.

Cologne police said on Tuesday that Mohammed A.R. suffered from psychological problems and had a history of street offences.

He arrived in Germany from war-torn Syria in March 2015, and had since drawn police attention 13 times for offences including marijuana possession, theft, threatening behaviour and fraud.

Germany remains on high alert over the risk of a jihadist attack, having suffered several in recent years.

The bloodiest, claimed by IS, was a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that left 12 people dead.

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ANTI-SEMITISM

Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

Anti-Semitic acts rose sharply in Germany last year, especially after war broke out between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in October, according to new figures released on Tuesday.

Published: 25 June 2024 17:03 CEST
Germany sees sharp rise in anti-Semitic acts

The Federal Association of Research and Information Centres on Anti-Semitism (RIAS) documented 4,782 anti-Semitic “incidents” in 2023 – an increase of more than 80 per cent on the previous year.

More than half of the incidents – which included threats, physical attacks and vandalism – were registered after Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7th attack on Israel, RIAS said.

Germany’s domestic intelligence agency last week also published figures showing a new record in anti-Semitic crimes in 2023.

A total of 5,164 crimes were recorded during the year, the agency said, compared with 2,641 in 2022.

Anti-Semitic crimes with a “religious-ideological motivation” jumped to 492 from just 33 the previous year, with the vast majority committed after October 7.

Felix Klein, the government’s commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, said the RIAS figures were “absolutely catastrophic”.

The Hamas attack had acted as an “accelerant” for anti-Semitism in Germany, he told a press conference in Berlin.

“Jewish life in Germany is under greater threat than it has ever been since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded,” he said.

The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,600 people, also mostly civilians, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Islamophobic incidents also increased dramatically in Germany last year, according to a separate report published on Monday.

The CLAIM alliance against Islamophobia said it had registered 1,926 attacks on Muslims in 2023, compared with just under 900 in 2023.

These included verbal abuse, discrimination, physical violence and damage to property.

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