Syrian man pledges allegiance to IS, blows himself up in Germany

15 people wounded, attacker was migrant whose asylum bid had been rejected

ANSBACH: A Syrian man whose asylum bid had been rejected in Germany recorded a cellphone video of himself pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group before he tried to get into an outdoor concert with a bomb-laden backpack. He was turned away and blew himself up outside a wine bar instead, injuring 15 people, authorities said on Monday.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility.

It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week — three of them carried out by recent migrants.

The 27-year-old, whom authorities have not identified, set off a backpack laden with explosives and shrapnel on Sunday night after being refused entry to the nearby festival in the Bavarian city of Ansbach because he didn’t have a ticket.

Bavarian authorities said a video found on the Ansbach bomber’s phone showed him pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. Germany’s top security official, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, had said it was too early to rule out terrorism as a motive, but noted that the suspect had twice attempted suicide and had been receiving psychological care.

“Or it could be a combination of both,” de Maiziere said.

The attack was carried out by “one of the soldiers of the Islamic State,” the extremist group said.

The bombing was the latest of the recent attacks that have heightened concerns about how Germany can deal with the esti- mated 1 million migrants who entered the country last year. Those fears had waned as the numbers of new arrivals had slowed this year dramatically, but already the nationalist Alternative for Germany party and others have seized on the attacks as evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policies are flawed.

The attack in Ansbach, a serene city of about 40,000 west of Nuremberg, came near the end of the closing night of a popular open air festival being attended by about 2,000 people.