German church warns against indicting refugees after train axe attack

A German church in Würzburg, where an Afghan refugee attacked train passengers with axe before being shot dead by the police, warned against indicting refugees for the crime.

Markus Hauck, spokesman for the Würzburg diocese, said the horrific incident must not be used "as a general indictment against refugees."

"It would be much more dangerous to suggest they all pose some kind of danger," Hauck told Catholic News Service on Wednesday.

Riaz Khan Ahmadzai, a 17-year-old Afghan Muslim who reached Germany as an unaccompanied minor last year, unleashed terror when he wielded axe and knife on a passenger train that stopped at a Würzburg station. Ahmadzai injured five before police shot him down.

"Catholics are shocked; people assume acts of terrorism only happen in large cities, not in a small town like ours," said Hauck. "For many, left speechless by this event, prayer has seemed the best answer."

The Würzburg diocese reportedly does more than just praying. Hauck said that some local clergy happened to be on the evening train and assisted unharmed fellow passengers. In addition, the diocese itself shelters Asian and Middle Eastern refugees with at least 60 social workers helping them.

"Plenty of Church-run institutions here are involved in training and helping young refugees, and Würzburg hasn't been an area of tension," he said. "We should remember that, far from posing any threat, most have come here to escape threats in their home countries."

Although investigations revealed no links between Ahmadzai and the Islamic State terrorist group, many perceive the train attack as one carried out by a "lone wolf," a term closely associated with a terrorist attack carried out by an Islamic State sympathizer.

The incident in Germany happened just a few days after another Islamic State sympathizer slammed a 19-ton delivery truck through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France on July 14. At least 84 people died in the attack.

Germany's most recent act of violence happened just this Friday, July 22 when an 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman attacked a shopping mall in Munich and killed nine and injured 16 before killing himself.