Refugee teen seemed to fit in, Germans say

Ax, knife attack Monday left 5 wounded on train

Refugees and supporters in Germany hold up signs — “They aren't acting in my name” and “We love peace” — Wednesday in Wuerzburg, near the site of a train attack Monday. ( Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa)

OCHSENFURT, Germany — By all accounts, the 17-year-old Afghan behind an ax-and-knife rampage aboard a commuter train in Germany seemed to be quickly integrating and adapting to life in Germany — until something, possibly the death of a friend back home, prompted him to radicalize and turn on the country that took him in.

Five people were wounded in the attack late Monday near Wuerzburg, including four members of a Hong Kong family who were on the train and a woman walking her dog outside.

Two people remained in critical condition Wednesday.

Police killed the attacker, whose name hasn't been released.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and posted a video in which the teen waved a knife and referred to himself as a “soldier of the Islamic State.”

During the attack, witnesses said he yelled “Allahu akbar,” Arabic for “God is great.”

The teen was one of about 60,000 unaccompanied minors who came into Germany last year amid a flood of 1 million migrants.

Authorities say such young people are particularly traumatized and in need of help, but also vulnerable to radicalization by Islamic extremists.

He wasn't on authorities' radar, and people who knew him said he seemed to be fitting in.

He played soccer with the locals and had an internship at a local bakery, a growing command of the German language and a new home with a foster family outside the Bavarian town of Ochsenfurt.

He was a Sunni Muslim who went to mosque only on holidays, but prayed regularly at home.

“He always seemed relaxed, pleasant, he smiled, he was completely unobtrusive, in the best sense,” said Simone Barrientos, 52, who lived down the road from the boy's refugee home and belongs to a group of volunteers that helps refugees in Ochsenfurt.

Barrientos said people who interacted with him are at a loss to explain what happened. “With all these young people, you have to assume trauma. To do anything else would be naive,” she said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called the attack “unbelievably cruel” and said that “there is still a lot to learn about the attacker and the background to the crime,” promising that “everything will be done to seek clarity.”

Two days before the attack, the teen found out that a friend had died in Afghanistan and reportedly was agitated by the news.

As he left Monday, he told his foster family that he was going on a bike ride.