by WorldTribune Staff, July 20, 2016

A 17-year-old Afghan refugee who attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria, Germany with an axe had a hand-painted Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) flag in his home, police said.

Along with the flag, police found a letter the attacker appeared to have written to his father, which read: “And now pray for me that I can get revenge on these non-believers, pray for me that I go to heaven.”

The 17-year-old, who a witness said shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great) during the attack, severely wounded four Hong Kong residents on the train on July 18, then injured a local woman after fleeing, before police shot him dead.

Germany has not been the victim of a major terrorist attack in recent years, although security officials say they have thwarted a large number of plots.

Officials said the attacker was an unaccompanied minor who was registered as refugee. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy saw nearly 1 million migrants welcomed into Germany last year.

“In the minds of many people, his (attacker) arrival is directly linked to Merkel and her liberal refugee policies,” said Frank Decker, political scientist at Bonn University.

A leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) said Merkel and her supporters were to blame for the dangerous security situation because their “welcoming policies had brought too many young, uneducated and radical Muslim men to Germany.”

ISIL said in a statement that “the perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in answer to the calls to target the countries of the coalition fighting the Islamic State.”

  Angela Merkel, Bavaria, ISIL flag found in room of teen who attacked passengers on German train, WorldTribune.com