Baku-APA. Germany is likely to face more Islamist attacks, its interior minister said on Wednesday, but played down any link between the government's open-door refugee policy and Monday's ax assault on a train in Bavaria, APA reports quoting Reuters.
Anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has seized on the train attack to criticize Chancellor Angela Merkel's migrant policy, under which some 1.1 million people entered Germany in 2015, many fleeing war in Syria, North Africa and Asia.
"You cannot say there is no connection between refugees and terrorism, but the danger was high before and remains high, regardless of questions about refugees," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.
A 17-year-old who had sought asylum in Germany was shot dead by police after wounding four people from Hong Kong, some of them severely, on the train and injuring a local resident while fleeing the scene near the city of Wuerzburg.
The perpetrator was initially thought to be Afghan but de Maiziere said on Wednesday there were indications he was from Pakistan. Officials have said the attacker came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor and registered as a refugee in June 2015 at Passau on the Austrian border.
The train attack came four days after a Tunisian delivery man drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing 84 people. Militant group Islamic State has claimed both attacks.
De Maiziere said the government had introduced measures to improve security in the last year but warned: "Like several EU countries, like the whole EU, Germany is also in the target area of international terrorism ... the situation is serious."
Investigations pointed to the train attacker being a "lone wolf" who had been spurred into action by Islamic State propaganda, said de Maiziere.
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