“Allahu Akbar” chants – Islamist attack?

A truck driver is stabbed at a rest stop. Witnesses hear shouts of “Allahu Akbar”. Is an Islamist attack taking place in Hennigsdorf?

A brutal knife attack on a motorway service station on the outskirts of Berlin could possibly have an Islamist background. Investigators are following this lead after witnesses reported shouts of “Allahu Akbar”.

Last Saturday evening, a 57-year-old truck driver was the victim of a knife attack at the Stolper Heide rest stop near Hennigsdorf. The man suffered life-threatening injuries. The suspected perpetrator, a 40-year-old German with a Syrian migration background, initially fled on foot across the A111, but was arrested by the police shortly afterwards.

Three days after the crime, the public prosecutor's office announced that a possible Islamist motive was now being investigated. “In light of the exclamation 'Allahu Akbar' made by the alleged perpetrator, which was allegedly heard by two of the witnesses questioned, the question of an Islamist background to the crime as well as other possibilities for a possible motivation for the crime are also the subject of further investigations,” the authority explained.

The Junge Union Mecklenburg-Vorpommern had previously reported on Instagram that some of its members were present at the rest stop at the time of the incident. They described how a man “with a clear migrant background” ran into the gas station and shouted “Allahu Akbar” before pulling out a knife and attacking people inside.

Despite these witness statements, the exact background to the crime remains unclear. According to the “Bild” newspaper, which cites unnamed security circles, an Islamist background is questionable. The suspect was under the influence of drugs and had no connections to the so-called Islamic State. Nor did a letter or video claiming responsibility appear after the crime.