Islamic State says it's behind German train attack

BERLIN — The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an ax and knife rampage on a German commuter train that injured at least five people, the group said in a statement posted by its Aamaq news agency Tuesday.

The statement said the attacker, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, was a member of the Islamic State group and carried out the attack in response to its calls to attack countries that are members of an anti-Islamic State coalition. The assailant was shot dead by police as he fled the scene.

Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s interior minister, told broadcaster ZDF that investigators raiding the attacker's room in a foster home found a hand-painted Islamic State flag. He came to Germany two years ago as an unaccompanied minor.

Herrmann said that the assailant shouted “Allahu akbar” — "God is great" — as he carried out the attack. Authorities have not yet determined a motive.

Germany has thus far escaped large-scale terror attacks such as seen recently in France and Belgium and claimed by the Islamic State. The country's security services have thwarted a number of plots.

The Islamic State also said it was behind last week's attack in Nice but investigators have struggled to establish a direct connection between the group and the Tunisian national who drove the truck that killed 84 people. This incident may aggravate concerns over the more than 1 million asylum seekers Germany let in last year. Afghans were the most represented group after Syrians.

Herrmann said it was too early to conclude what the attacker's motives have have been and that notes written in Pashtun found in his room appeared to suggest that he may have been self-radicalized.

Four members of a family from Hong Kong were hurt in Monday's incident on the German train, two of them critically.

The South China Morning Post newspaper said the family members — tourists vacationing in Germany — included the 62-year-old father, 58-year-old mother, 27-year-old daughter and her 31-year-old boyfriend. A fifth family member, a 17-year-old son, was not hurt.

Fourteen other passengers on the train were being treated for shock. The attack took place about 175 miles northwest of Munich.

About 96,000 unaccompanied minors traveled to Europe as asylum seekers last year, according to UNICEF.