Ansbach bomber had fought in Syria

THE Ansbach suicide bomber had fought with a jihadist group in Syria before seeking asylum in Germany, it emerged yesterday, raising fresh questions about the country’s screening of migrants.

Mohammad Daleel, the 27-year-old Syrian who detonated explosives outside a music festival in the German city, had fought with al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. It appears that Daleel later pledged allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) after the 2013 split from Nusra.

According to Isil’s weekly al-Nabaa magazine, he left Syria to seek treatment after he was wounded in a mortar attack. He travelled to Germany posing as a refugee. The report claimed he had planned the attack, which left 15 injured, for three months and was in “constant contact” with Isil leaders on the night of the bombing.

It is not clear whether German authorities knew of his membership of the extremist groups in Syria. He had also been in trouble with police for drugs and other offences.

German MPs have called for failed asylum seekers to be deported more quickly after Sunday’s attack.

Armin Schuster, homeland security expert of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), said Germany had failed to deport more than 200,000 people whose applications for asylum had been rejected. Mr Schuster said that the Federal Office for Migration was overworked.