ISIS has taken responsibility for yesterday evening’s axe and knife attack in Wurzburg, Bavaria merkur.de reports this morning, July 19, 2016. The 17-year-old attacker had a hand-painted Isis flag among his belongings, the Bavarian interior minister told Tagesthemen yesterday. He also said that a special police force unit happened to be nearby and was able to mobilise quickly, Herrmann added.

The Afghan national assailant had arrived as an unaccompanied minor to Germany and has been placed in Ochsenfurt in the Bavarian Wurzburg District. He was placed with 250 other refugees, some 60 of whom were unaccompanied minors as him. A spokesperson from Ochsenfurt has been quoted by merkur.de saying: "We are very close to the refugees and have had absolutely nothing but positive experience with the people," she continued: "There has never been any kind of incident. There is a very peaceful and good interaction with each other, so we are all shocked and saddened."

According to an official press release by the Bavarian Police and the Wurzburg District Attorney published this morning, the attack happened at 9:15pm on a Regionalexpress train on its way from Treuchtlingen towards Wurzburg. After the train stopped at the Wurzburg-Heidingsfeld station, the attacker escaped from the train. Police confronted him near the Main River and he was shot while attacking them. At least five persons were injured, four of them severely and they have been hospitalized. Dozens were in shock and have also been taken to the hospital.